


Heuristic Resolution

by Overthinkerwrites



Series: The Crow's Murder [3]
Category: Tales of Berseria, Tales of Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awkward Sexy Times, Bend of Canon, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Happy Ending, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2018-11-17 06:47:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 32,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11270190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Overthinkerwrites/pseuds/Overthinkerwrites
Summary: Velvet Crowe has no delusions that her need for revenge will be complicated, brutal, and have long lasting effects.Yet, it's the only choice afforded her.





	1. Chapter 1

Velvet Crowe paced quickly around the perimeter of her cell. Every other step was punctuated by a heavy breath and grunt.

She had lost track of time since she had been placed here and it seemed she was trapped in a moment that never ended.

The only light available came from the grate far above her.

She looked up to it with a hateful glare.

There are no guards, thankfully, however, the only time she has some semblance of company is when they feed her.

The idea causes her teeth to grind and her scowl to deepen.

They feed her like as if she were an animal to be poked, prodded, and tossed food at.

Every now and then, they toss a daemon down into her cell. Sometimes it’s alive. Sometimes it’s freshly killed.

Other times, they toss humans down too. Or they toss things that could have been human at one point.

She was broken from her thoughts when she heard the latch opening and shadows briefly covering the light before she saw something dropped into the grate.

It landed unceremoniously in front of her. Another Sus. She knows she is in no position to be picky about what she devours.

Food is food, she thinks as the Therion’s Claw unfurls.

Faster than her prey can register her presence, she charges and shoves the Sus into the wall with incredible force. There is a visible blood stain as Velvet begins to feed without restraint, care, or mercy through her transformed limb.

Her expression doesn’t change as she sees a skull left over from the remains. It’s a rare sight to see, yet, it’s not without its uses as she kneels down in front of it.

She raises her right arm and with her hand into a fist, strikes the skull with all the force she can.

It shatters into smaller and smaller pieces as she pretends it is the face of the man responsible for her imprisonment.

She brandishes her claw again at the thought of him and begins to slash at the wall, leaving several visible marks.

When the initial rush of her acquired strength from her latest victim subsides, she falls to her knees and pants loudly, loathing this curse as it happens every time.

She holds her head as the blood pumps violently through her veins, trying to fight the headache.

The heavy scent of blood in her cell makes it difficult to focus as she gets to her feet once more to lean against the wall.

Scratches across her head with almost broken skin pulsed as she fights in vain against the oncoming transformation.

She struggles to stay conscious as the stolen strength from her latest victim overwhelms her senses as she falls again to the ground before changing.

Still, her last thought before darkness has taken her is her determination to destroy him.

No, she thought to herself, she won’t just kill him. She’s going to make him suffer. She’s going to hear him scream in the same agony she felt when she saw her brother plummet into that pit. She’s going to break him! Bone by bone!

She snarled as the same black and red light grows out from her right hand and slowly spread to the rest of her body.

Before long, she’s taken the appearance of an almost humanoid wolf, covered and oozing malevolence.

She inhaled and unleashed a distorted and inhuman howl that echoed through the whole of Titania.

Above, the prisoners and guards alike that heard her all covered their ears and struggled to keep the noise out, as it seemed to pierce their ears relentlessly.

The creature that Velvet became growled angrily and leaped towards the opening. She was but a few meters off the ground when she was violently repulsed by the seal that flashed brightly for a moment as she fell back to the floor.

Not at all deterred, Velvet gathered herself up upon all four of her paws before she launched herself once more, this time aware of the seal that kept her trapped. Yet, even as she struck with all her might, again she was thrown back to the ground.

Like a relentless wave crashing against the shore, she repeatedly slammed herself against the seal, yet, it would not break.

Hours later, exhaustion finally kicked in when, after one last attempt, the black and red receded into her skin.

Her attempts to stay awake were futile when she reclined against the wall, loathing not only the curse, but the frenzy that had taken hold of her. It left her drained and while it made her stronger in the long run, the short term weakness was almost too much to bear.

She curled herself up as tightly as she could before the blessed, dreamless sleep would come.

*

Velvet’s eyes snapped open as she rolled off the bed in the captain’s cabin she had taken residence in. Her breath calmed when she remembered they had escaped Titania just the day before, not to mention the storm they had barely fought through. She overheard Rokurou, on deck, singing some Japonese folk song, as loudly and as obnoxiously as he could, to solely annoy that useless witch, Magilou, and herself.

As she opened the door, a slight impact from the doorknob on her finger brought her attention back to the ring that Ceres gave her as a parting gift. Her lips thinned when she remembered the mask shattering, the bone sickening crunch of her skull, and the subsequent rush of a powerful malak’s strength flowing through her. She flexed the fingers of her bandaged hand, considering how her power could grow if she could consume Malakhim as much as she did daemons. Her eyes narrowed at the thought of more of those damned exorcists. She clenched her fist shut, imagining taking their power and making it her own to crush anything and anyone in her way.

“Why, good morning, oh illustrious leader!” a familiar and aggravating voice chirped behind her.

Velvet turned to the witch, unwilling to deal with Magilou’s antics. “What is it?”

Apathetic or ignorant of Velvet’s disposition, Magilou answered, “Well, we got good news and bad news. What would you like first?”

She folded her arms and glared. “My life as of late’s been nothing but bad news. So, let’s hear it.”

Magilou clapped her hands excitedly. “Well, turns out not only have we veered way off course thanks to Roukurou’s inability to properly navigate a ship, but we have a storm heading our way from the south and it’s catching up to us!”

“And the good news?”

“I happen to know a few shanties for a situation like this. Wanna sing?” she asked with her hands pressed together and a large toothy grin.

Velvet shoved past her and onto the deck in the vain hopes of getting some solitude, but the witch was annoyingly persistent.

She let loose a long-suffering sigh as she saw the storm clouds approaching.

Now she understands why when it rains, it pours.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Nothing.

She bit into the apple, but the flavor is gone. Several more chews does nothing to bring out the taste.

It may as well have been ash in her mouth as she spat it off to the side and threw the apple away.

Rokurou can’t help but notice. “Something wrong with it?”

“I… can’t taste it. There’s nothing,” she whispered as her face became downtrodden.

“Part of your Therion state?” he took one last bite of his own before wrapping it in a cloth and put it in his pack.

“I don't know,” she felt a few pieces of the fruit between her teeth. The texture was no different. However, the only flavor she could recall was the metallic taste of bloody flesh.

“Makes sense though,” she continued as her face hardened at the memories of her cell, “you can guess what the only thing I ate was back in Titania.”

“Hm. Pretty morbid,” he stroked the blackened patch of demon skin on his face a moment.

“But you can still sense it?” Velvet asked as she looked to the apple she had disposed of.

“Sure, but my palette’s a lot more simple than the local dishes. Never had a taste for rich food,” he shrugged.

Velvet stared forward into nothing as she sought a shred of insight. Nothing.

She gasped as her heart beat faster and her stomach silently roared. She whirled around and ran through the gates they had entered not too long ago. The sound of the wind in her ears almost muffled the sound of Rokurou’s footsteps behind her, yet kept running regardless.

In the expanse between Beardsley and Hellaweves, she inhaled deeply through her nose.

Meat.

Lots of it.

A pack of trundleboars were incoming. She could smell them. No, she could smell their blood. Warm, pulsing, fresh blood!

She brandished her gauntlet blade and unfurled her claw as her hunger overrode her senses. Immediately after, the corruption on her arm covered her whole body and once more her transformation turned her into a black and red blur that sped though the brush. The pack squealed at her appearence and was about to attack, but Velvet’s violence and bloodlust did not give them the opportunity.

Velvet’s desperation for sustenance left her kneeling on the ground as she greedily chewed on hunks of flesh ripped from the sullied bones of the beasts she had slaughtered only a moment before as she returned to her human shape.

Bite after bite left her face and clothes a mess as she fed hastily.

When she had her fill, she wiped her face clean and looked in horror at the carnage around her. She pushed herself to her feet with difficulty and teetered over before she found herself steadied by Rokurou’s hand.

“Feeling better?” he asked, completely ignoring the noticeable blanket of red on and about her.

“Somewhat,” she answered, feeling sick to her stomach, “I assume you saw what happened. It doesn’t bother you?”

He shrugged. “Eh, I’ve seen worse.”

“I’ll take your word on that,” she answered as her stomach finally quieted down, ”with any luck, we won’t run into that exorcist again while we’re looking for the daemon.”

“Yeah, don’t think she’d think too well to seeing you eat a whole pack of boars with your bare hands,” he smirked as he started back towards Beardsley, “and not because you weren’t in the mood to share, either.”

She leveled her eyes, but was too woozy to make an issue out of it.

*

“Oh, hello again!” both Velvet and Rokurou blinked and turned to see the same Exorcist from before jog her way up to them, “you’re returning to Hellaweves, are you not?”

“Yep,” Rokurou answered and puffed out his chest, “daemon’s been dispatched and we’re on our way to collect!”

The announcement caught Eleanor off guard. “Really? That’s surprising as even the town guards had a difficult time locating him while he hid in Hellaweves.”

“He was a lot more clever than the guards, evidently,” Velvet muttered with her arms folded, hoping she’d go away.

“Well, if that is the case, then there’s nothing more to fear. On behalf of the Abbey, I wish to extend our appreciation for what you’ve done for the people of Beardsley,” she gave her a salute, her posture perfect and her pose engaged.

“You weren’t exactly welcome there, if I recall right. After all, it’s a drop off for malcontents and the like, no?” Velvet stared directly into Eleanor’s eyes as she waited for the latter to blink first.

She did. Velvet’s eyes leveled when Eleanor blushed slightly and looked away, slightly embarrassed. “Well, yes. I know it is not entirely well for a Praetor to visit such a settlement, knowing the Reason as it works. However, we are not ones to simply abandon them. That would be inhumane.”

“I’m sure that eases their fears, given what’s going on these days,” Velvet countered sarcastically as she turned and started walking back to the port.

Eleanor frowned. “Now hold on!” she hurried to Velvet’s side, “I am well aware that the Abbey needs to do what it must in order to defend as much as they can, but this is not callous.”

Velvet frowned and turned to her. “Let me guess; it’s ‘reasonable’?” Her strides grew longer and she pulled away.

Eleanor was taken aback and couldn’t properly respond and stopped trying to follow for a moment.

“Damn shame,” Velvet whispered to herself more than anyone else. The life and optimism in her eyes was something Velvet could have easily seen in herself a long time ago. Not so much, these days.

*

Fire reflected in Elenor’s eyes as she blocked Velvet’s sword with the shaft of her lance.

“I should have known,” Eleanor spat as she heaved Velvet away from Teresa.

“You’re pretty oblivious for an inspector,” Velvet whirled and when Eleanor blocked her next slash, she grabbed the shaft and pulled her close, “must be all those tears you shed over nothing.”

The barb had its intended effect as Eleanor scowled, brought her foot up, and kicked Velvet backwards in the stomach.

“I DO NOT!” Eleanor screamed as she lunged at Velvet. The spearhead flew over Velvet as she ducked and realized her mistake too late as Velvet dug her heels into the ground, and used it as leverage to knock Eleanor back to Teresa’s side.

She saw the second malak in her peripheral vision, unfurled her Therion’s Claw, the grabbed the child’s torso before hoisting him in the air.

“Throw them back! Cover our escape! That’s an order!” she barked over the sound of the burning port, remembering how Teresa was able to get him to charge headfirst to blow them all up himself, “Or else I’ll devour you whole!” She started to squeeze and break the outer skin of his form to prove her intent.

There wasn’t much fear in his eyes, however, it was visible enough that he nodded. “I will comply,” he croaked mechanically. He raised his hands and a sphere of fire emerged.

Teresa, her first malak, and Eleanor were about to charge when they noticed the incantation. Eleanor was half through a barrier arte of her own when all three of them were tossed away back to the warehouses behind them.

“Good! Let’s go!” she shouted before tightening her grip on the boy, tucking him under her arm, and following Rokurou and Magilou onto the ship as it disembarked, leaving the burning Hellawaves in its wake.

She dropped the boy and turned back to the pier to see Eleanor at the edge out of breath with a glare directed at her.

She huffed and turned away, “stupid girl. That naivete of yours is going to get you killed.”


	3. Chapter 3

It was night when the Van Eltia finally made it to port. Some shady dealings and exchanged gald later, they made their way into town. The inn was thankfully vacant due to the passed rush of the gathering peoples in Loegress for Artorious’ inauguration.

As she walked up to her room, thankfully solitary, she sighed, aware she had to be patient. Artorious would die soon enough. She closed her eyes as she took another deep breath. She stepped to the side to let another guest past her to the room down the hall, but noticed something one normally does not see on the floor of an inn.

A rose.

Followed by another.

And another, that led to her room.

She thinned her lips and hummed. She already had an idea who was behind it.

A certain witch that had been pestering her about an arrangement with all the subtlety of an earthquake.

She knelt down and picked up the roses, one after the other, because the last thing they needed a was trail for her enemies to follow.

She grit her teeth, with all the other roses in hand, ignored the thorns, and then pushed her way into her room, prepared for the worst.

There, on her bed, surrounded by candles, with a pair of additional sheets, placed just right to cover her chest and hips, lay Magilou on her bed, completely nude. With a large smile, and another rose between her teeth, she cooed seductively, “why, hello there.”

Velvet said nothing, stepped backward, and closed the door.

As she turned to the stairwell, she overheard the witch through the door, “Wow, really? I go to all this trouble to get turned down? I am offended! Insulted even!”

Silently, Velvet walked down the stairs, out the door, to the side where a water pump and a bucket sat.

Without missing a beat, she took the bucket, filled it with some water from the pump, walked back in with bucket in hand, back up the stairs, and into her room.

“Aha!” Magilou exclaimed as she quickly, and clumsily, lay herself in the same position as she was before, “I knew my subtle seduction would-” she didn’t get a chance to finish as Velvet slung the contents of the bucket at her, putting out all the candles.

Magilou’s screech was thankfully brief as she flailed about after she took the brunt of the icy cold water. She tumbled off the bed, still tangled in the extra sheets, and fell on her head.

“Son of a soggy slob!” Magilou shrieked amid shivers as she got to her feet, her dignity abandoned, and stomped up to Velvet, “what the hell was that for?!”

Velvet put the bucket down and folded her arms casually.

“In case you haven’t noticed, we’re trying to keep a low profile. Burning the inn down is anything but!”

Magilou’s face faulted. “Oh, come on, Miss Vicious. I’m more than capable of putting out fires I create… once it’s reduced to cinders, but still!”

Velvet held a hand against her face. “Magilou, not that I care, but why are you punishing yourself when it’s abundantly clear that this is not going to work?”

Magilou put her hands on her hips. “Because I know this is something that we both want. What better way for us to cement our alliance than the idea of having sex over the bodies of our slain enemies?!”

“That’s both unsanitary and disgusting.”

“I was speaking figuratively!”

“Magilou,” Velvet began before the witch interrupted her again, her face and tone now serious.

“What are you afraid of?”

Velvet stepped back in surprise as Magilou shrugged and continued.

“If it’s getting attached that has you hesitating, don’t worry. This is strictly business. You get a chance to work out your aggression. I get some action. Our enemies become wormfood. Everyone wins,” Magilou smiled wickedly with her hands extended.

Velvet held her hand to her face in thought. Her eyes went from the floor to Magilou and back again before she whispered.

“No strings?”

Magilou’s smile grew. “None.”

Velvet changed her posture so her hands were on her hips as she towered over Magilou. Her eyes narrowed and her frown grew, despite Magilou’s confidence.

“I’ll think about it,” she answered before walking around the soaked witch and pulling the equally soaked sheets off.

Magilou growled and raked her palms over her face before Velvet tossed one of the sheets on top of her.

“Dry off and get dressed,” she ordered before she sat up against the headboard of the bed and closed her eyes, “then get out.”

Magilou was about to snap back when she looked at the sheets that now covered her and back to the slowly fading Velvet.

Eventually, another smile grew on her face. She quickly dried herself off, tossed the sheets into the corner, because that was the innkeeper’s job, not hers, and with a snap of her fingers, her witch’s clothes reappeared on her person.

“Soon,” she whispered to herself before she walked to the door and closed it softly behind her. Magilou could wait a little longer. She was patient, after all.

*

In the upper levels of the Blood Wings’ tavern, Velvet paced angrily around the hall as night came too soon for her liking.

The inauguration had left her heated, angry, and unsettled.

The frown on her face grew and the grip in her right hand became tighter as she thought about those pretty words Artorious said. She whirled back when she was about to descend the stairs. The blood pumping in her veins made hearing the conversation in the tavern difficult. She noticed Tabitha speaking to Magilou, who only smiled at Velvet. She turned away and went back to pacing.

After another half hour of skulking, she noticed Magilou about to enter the room Velvet specifically requested for herself.

When Magilou’s hand touched the doorknob, all the books on her waist suddenly became unhinged and fell to the ground.

Magilou gasped loudly. “Oh my! Whatever shall I do?” she proceeded to pick up the books with her posterior on display.

Velvet grumbled wearily as she looked down to Rokurou, who overheard the exchange and shrugged his shoulders at Magilou’s antics. This was, after all, the fourth time she had done this in attempt to seduce Velvet. Thankfully, it was always in an inn, so, the witnesses were few.

“Excuse me! Fantastic ass on display here! And I’m not seeing any cawing Crowes gawking!” Magilou exclaimed with her head upside down.

Velvet exhaled in resignation, walked up to Magilou, and slapped her right buttcheek without much force behind it.

Magilou squeaked, shot up, and held both hands on her behind before she whirled around angrily.

“I thought about it, Magilou,” Velvet spoke before the latter could announce her indignation, “you got a deal.”

Magilou’s eyebrows rose, her spanking forgotten, her grin widened, and she opened up the door to Velvet’s, and now her, room. “Step into my office. We can work out the devil in the details there.”

As she entered, she looked down to Magilou and said, “consider it me throwing caution to the wind for once. Got nothing to lose, after all.”

When Velvet went past her, Magilou squealed excitedly, followed Velvet, and locked the door from behind.

“Now, because I am the consummate business woman, I intend to make sure that all terms are on the table and are understood without question,” Magilou began before she saw Velvet sitting on the bed with one leg over the other.

Velvet smirked. “Save the business talk. I’m doing this because you’re the only person that doesn’t have a stick up their ass. And frankly, it’s a breath of fresh air considering the kind of people I’ve had to deal with over the past while,” she leaned back, letting her abdominals speak for themselves as she unbuckled her jacket to expose more of her toned, dark brown skin, “and frankly, as absurd as some of the things you’ve done, it made me laugh and I like this arrangement better than anything else.”

Magilou answered with her usual level of dignity and restraint.

“Oh baby! Witch is getting lucky toniiiiight!” she sang as she hurled her hat to hang above the headboard.

Velvet snorted in amusement when she reached over, pulled Magilou onto the bed, and crawled over her.

“By the way, I have no idea what the hell I’m doing,” Velvet admitted with full confidence.

“That’s fine,” Magilou greedily undid more of Velvet’s outfit, “neither do I!”

Back in the tavern, Laphicet turned to Eizen. “I do not understand human mating rituals.”

Eizen leveled his eyes and flipped his coin. Tails again. “Don’t. It’s not worth it.”

*

Wearing cloaks to hide their identities, along with the rush of people, along with the dusk, Velvet and Magilou walked through the crowds of back to the storage docks.

The tainted medical gel stores were there and needed to be destroyed. Yet, it seemed off to Velvet that this little act of sabotage seemed too charitable for the likes of the Blood Wings.

“You’re doing it again,” Magilou noted as they broke free of the stream of people.

“Doing what?” she asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“You’ve overthinking it. You yourself said,” she then hardened her face and used a gravely voice to imitate Velvet, “’Don’t ask questions. It’ll come back to bite you in the end!’ But I can tell that you’re trying to figure out the why and all.”

“As grateful as I am for their assistance, I don’t trust them at all,” she frowned at the memory of Tabitha’s smirk, “and I dislike doing their dirty work when they’re more than capable of doing it themselves.”

That old woman had more blood on her hands than Velvet ever would. She could smell it.

“Oh, of course,” Magilou snickered and held her hands behind her head, “she’s just a concerned citizen, making sure that delinquents aren’t running around, causing mischief.”

Velvet was about to respond when a familiar face in a white and blue dress uniform marched beside them.

She took Magilou’s hand and dragged her casually off to the side to a darkened alley. Eleanor Hume was, once again, thankfully oblivious as Velvet and Magilou watched her continue into the stream of people and walk off into the city.

“So, the Crybaby Exorcist’s back, hm?” she whispered to herself more than Magilou.

“I don’t believe we’ve met,” Magilou answered with a smirk, “care to introduce us?”

“She’s a Wandering Praetor. Investigator. Thinks she means well, but she’s as blind as everyone else who wants to kiss Artorious’ ass.”

Magilou looked from Velvet back to the retreating form of Eleanor. “Hmm. That’s a shame. She’s cute, too.”

Velvet frowned, but remembered that she was in no position to show jealousy. It was an arrangement after all. Yet, she had a harder time letting go than she would have admitted.

“Oh, well, her loss. It’s not like we can kidnap her, hold her hostage, and then slowly convince her to join our side,” Magilou gasped, “oh! She’d be a double agent! A super secret spy woman! Yeah!” she clenched her fist in excitement, “tearing apart the Abbey from within as she obeys our every command! An Intercontinental Woman of Wonder and Perplexity! It’d be perfect!”

Velvet slid the cap of Magilou’s hood down her face. “No.”

Magilou huffed. “Spoil sport. I bet she has an adorable tush too.”

“Come on,” she grumbled and dragged her along in the opposite direction as the last rays of sunlight finally vanished.

With no warning, Velvet felt her heart pulse hard and her hunger return.

She clutched her chest and leaned against a brick wall as she fought to keep her eyesight clear.

“What’s wrong?” Magilou asked as she took a step back.

Velvet’s breath grew hard and fast as she looked up to the sky and saw the moon. It was not as red as it would have been during a Scarlet Night, but it’s hue was definitely sinister.

“F…,” Velvet tried to force out of her mouth before she looked to the western gate, “…Frenzy!” She then marched to the gate, through the crowed, and even past the guards who warned her about the gate closing nightly.

“Wait, what are you-” Magilou tried to follow her, but Velvet was already gone.

*

Velvet ran.

Rock and shrub flew past.

She hungered.

Hands turned to claws.

She followed scent.

Black, red, and gold was all she was.

She hungered.

She found it.

It was big.

She hungered.

It had meat.

It had blood.

She hungered for both.

She would have both.

It was once man.

It was now daemon.

It was now meat.

There was no words.

There was struggle.

Blood and meat.

Delicious meat.

Feed on meat.

Feed until full.

Feed more.

Always more!

*

Velvet groaned in pain as she stumbled back to the inn as the sun slowly rose over the mountains. Magilou and the others were relieved at her return. However, Eizen and Laphicet kept their distance.

She couldn’t blame them.

She reeked of blood and gore.

This was what she was, she thought despondently.

This was all she was.


	4. Chapter 4

“Velvet,” the malak, no, Laphicet asked as she watched the outside from a chair by her window, “if it is not too forward of me to ask; what happened the night before last?”

She turned to him, face as still as stone as if judging whether she should tell him or not.

Since he had shown initiative of his own, she decided to humor him and turn around. “I’m not entirely sure myself,” she began as she held her hands together and looked to the floor in thought, trying to give words to what she had experienced.

“What I’ve been able to figure out is… every now and then, and it always happens at night when there’s a discolored moon. I feel… a hunger. It’s overpowering. It pushes me into a, well, a Frenzy, for lack of a better word. I need to feed. Feed on daemons. I can barely remember what happens when I change, but it’s always harsh, violent, and fast.”

She closed her eyes as Laphicet walked up to her, his hands grasping his robe anxiously.

“Would…” he begins, but with incredible difficulty, “are you going to eat me when you transform?”

She’s surprised with herself when she looked up, shocked at his question.

“What?”

Laphicet’s eyes were not filled with fear, but sadness as he asked, “you said you need to feed whenever you transform. Are you going to eat me?”

Velvet thought she could be shocked, but to hear someone, malak or no, as young as this asking something so glibly made her stomach churn.

She looked down to the floor again with widened eyes. Would she eat him? All of a sudden, she remembered all the daemons she had consumed in Titania. All the exorcists and malakhim that suffered the same fate. Would she do the same to him?

For the first time, she looked upon her hand in unease.

She had also said she was going to eat him, repeatedly.

She forced her breath to calm before she breathed deeply. “I doubt it. You’re not a daemon.”

There was another moment of silence before Laphicet let go of his robe and asked again, “Eizen said that we can turn into daemons just as easily as humans can. If I did change into one, would you eat me then?”

She looked up and into his seagreen eyes. When she first met him, there were as blank and vacant as an empty house. Slowly, there was a light beginning to shine through the haze with every small act of individuality.

And she would consume that if he did change.

She breathed quietly a moment before answering. “Probably. I am a monster, after all. It’s what I am.”

Laphicet became downtrodden and looked to the floor, his hands now hung at his sides, almost in resignation. Not scared, like others had been.

“Does it hurt?” he asked out of nowhere.

“Hm?”

“Does it hurt whenever you transform? Whether it is your arm or when you change completely?” he gripped his robe again.

She stared at him in the eyes once more. She wasn’t sure why, but he seemed so sincere for someone who had been blank not too long ago.

Regardless, she nodded. “Yes.”

Laphicet then padded up to her and gently took her left hand in both of his own.

“If… if you succeed in defeating Artorious… can we look for a way to heal you from this?”

It wasn’t the fact that he was holding her hand that shocked her. She had literally kidnapped him, conscripted him to her cause, and threatened to devour him on multiple occasions. And here he was, offering to help her? The boy was either too kind for his own good or he was genuinely kind.

Slowly, she turned her hand upward and took his smaller hands in her larger one. “If we survive. I don’t expect much, though. This seems like something that has no cure.”

“We can still try though, can’t we?” he asked quietly.

She looked into his eyes again. It was a fool’s errand. She also expected to avenge her brother or die trying. Still… as far fetched as it was, it wouldn’t hurt, she supposed.

“Sure.”

*

With the destruction of the tainted gels, plus some additional distractions meant to draw away the majority of troops from the Throne of the Empyreans provided by the Blood Wings, success seemed certain.

It wasn’t.

Blessed oblivion after defeat at Artorious’ hand took her to dreams.

“Velvet,” a familiar voice spoke above her, “still sleeping, hm?”

She was on a bed. It was her own.

Pleasant memories of Celica, playing the mother she and Laphicet never had, drew to the surface.

“Really now,” her elder sister’s voice chided kindly, “you can’t expect to get anything done here.”

“Please, Celly,” Velvet moaned wearily, “just a little longer?”

“If only, Velvet,” Celica answered gently before she leaned over the edge of the bed and took Velvet’s shoulder, “but you have to complete the task I asked you to do. You vowed to do it yourself. Remember?”

Velvet’s eyes fluttered between opened and closed. “Task? Which one?”

“You know which one,” Celica’s voice became dark as her grip on Velvet’s shoulder grew tight, her nails sharpened to cut skin, and the poisonous heat grew in her breath as she hissed in Velvet’s ear.

“Kill him.”

The command pierced her hearing and she covered her ears vainly to keep out the voice.

“Kill him!”

Celica’s grip grew hot as Velvet felt her skin burn.

“KILL HIM!”

She struggled to remove Celica’s, no, Ceres’ grip, but she was too weak. Blood began to spill from her shoulder and she could not open her eyes to see.

“KILL HIM!”

She finally broke free from Ceres’ clutches and she tumbled to the other side of the bed, finally forced her eyes open, and gasped.

Ceres, her torso skewered by stones, her dress blood soaked, her mask shattered, and the once white sclera of her eyes now a pitch black as her pupils shone like burning coals, reached out to Velvet.

“Kill him,” she rasped as her body, and everything in the dream, was consumed by flame.

Velvet’s eyes shot open as she rolled upon the rocky ground of the large plane of floating stone she now found herself in. She forced air into her lungs as she searched around for the ghastly visage of the Malak she had consumed not too long ago.

Thankfully, she was alone as she pushed herself to her feet. A compulsory check discovered that her wounds had healed mysteriously. A small hum caught her attention as she whirled around to find Laphicet, unconscious and covered with black motes that hovered around him like flies.

She forced the motes away and examined him the best she could. He was alive. He was burning up, but he was alive.

“You… you saved me?” she whispered, aware that he would not be able to listen.

He began to mumble something just below his breath, but she could not make out a word. The closest thing she could discern was her name. The only conclusion she could come to was that he was worried for her. Even after how she had treated him.

Her face grew hard as the guilt surged and knew that she had to do something. She was not going to let him die like this.

She gathered him gingerly into her arms, forced herself to her feet, and ran off into the depths of whatever this place was.

*

Whether it was by chance or the rare spot of good fortune, she ran into Eizen. However, true to form, the news he brought was anything but good.

Unless they found a vessel for the boy, he would no doubt meet the same fate as the malak in Titania that turned into a dragon.

“Against my better judgment, I can be of assistance,” a familiar voice made Velvet draw her sword and prepare to lunge.

Eleanor Hume stood before them with her spear at her side and her back straight. She did not appear ready to fight. Yet.

“Exorcists can make a pact with Malakhim and as we become their vessel, we can use them for our purposes. For the time being, I volunteer to help safeguard your malak as his vessel.”

Velvet’s gaze bored into Eleanor’s, which dared her to blink.

“So, we just need you alive, not whole,” she clenched her right hand, ready to charge, “I can work with that.”

Eleanor did act, but not the way Velvet expected as she brought the side of her spear to her neck and matched Velvet’s glare.

“Not one step closer! I will not hesitate to kill myself to stop you!”

Velvet paused, shocked that Eleanor would go to such lengths.

“If you wish the malak to survive, then allow me to make a pact. What say you, daemon?”

There was a tense moment when Velvet heard Laphicet groan in pain at her side.

She drew her sword back. “Don’t have much choice, do I?”

“’When you know your foe, you know where they are weak. That is where you strike,’” she recited as she drew her lance away.

Velvet’s frown grew. “I’m not surprised you’d recite something that bastard said. Like some brainless zealot.”

“No!” Eleanor shouted and slammed the butte of her lance to the ground. “This is personal, daemon! You lied to me! I thought you to be something you were not! Once I regain my Exorcist Cognition, I will not let that stand! I will challenge and defeat you myself!”

Both Velvet and Eizen raised an eyebrow. “You’ve met before?” he asked casually.

“You could say that,” Velvet answered with a shrug, “met in Beardsley. Was crying her eyes out over something trivial and…”

“I can always decline to be your malak’s vessel, you realize!” Eleanor’s frown matched Velvet’s.

“Hmph. Fine,” Velvet stepped back to allow Eleanor to kneel at Laphicet’s side.

“Does it have a name?”

“’It’?” Velvet spat angrily, “He is not an ‘it’ to be used and disposed of like some tool! He is Laphicet!”

Eleanor threw another glare at Velvet, but said nothing as she reached to take Laphicet’s hand.

Holy light emerged over her head, with intricate seals and patterns as she recited,

_“Ye of the font of the heavens, fruit of the tree of the world, hitherto take unto thee mine word. I grant unto thee succor, if thou shalt grant unto me aid. Henceforth and forever shall we twain be as one to render good and true to they who appeal.”_

_“Give unto me thine ear and I shall grant unto thee a name known only unto us. May thy true name, granted in virtue, ever give thee strength, valor, and knowledge."_

To her surprise, Laphicet’s form vanished into a small sphere of green light and dropped into Eleanor’s body.

She stood up and looked directly to Velvet. “He should be fine now. He is resting. Now, know this; should I emerge victorious, your life is forfeit. Should you win, I will serve you, as Laphicet’s vessel, until the day I die. Are those terms acceptable?”

Velvet snorted. “No argument here. Though, I hope you don’t have any long term plans. Even after I find a better vessel for him, I could always use some throwaway exorcist as canon fodder.”

Eleanor was about to snap back when she gasped, doubled over, and her body immediately shone a brilliance so bright that all three of them could see nothing.

*

Eleanor doubled over when Velvet’s knee violently collided with her diaphragm and knocked the wind out of her as the latter wrested the spear from her grip. Velvet stabbed the spear firmly in the ground, rolled Eleanor away from it until she lay face down, then knelt on the small of her back before Velvet leaned over and snarled in Eleanor’s ear, “Well, look at that. You lost. Artorious’ maxims not as helpful as you thought, huh?”

She turned her head slightly to glare at Velvet, yet, said nothing as she got her breath back.

“And as much as I know how much you exorcists love hiding lies in everything you say, don’t try killing yourself. You did vow to follow my orders, after all.”

Velvet stood up and Eleanor followed slowly after, holding her stomach. Both had fought fiercely, however, Velvet was the victor, much to Eleanor’s chagrin.

“Yes. I did,” Eleanor wheezed, “and as such, I will do as you say.”

Velvet folded her arms and stared her down. “Good to know we’re both on the same page. So, from here on, you will protect Laphicet. Even if it means coming to blows with your fellow exorcists. Are we clear?”

Reluctantly, she nodded. “I understand.”

“And don’t try to run. Remember, I need you alive, I don’t need you whole. I can devour your limbs as easily as I can devour daemons.”

Eleanor’s eyes narrowed. “I won’t. I gave you my word, didn’t I?”

“In the same breath, you tried to kill yourself, which still worked as part of ‘till the day you died’. Pardon me if I have a hard time taking anything you say at face value.”

Eleanor looked to the ground for a moment before she nodded again.

“So, what now?” Rokurou asked as he, Eizen, and Magilou approached.

Velvet looked to the dusk and then back to the entrance of the ruins. “We stay here for the night. I don't want to risk trying to traverse these canyons in the dark.”

There was agreement all around as they returned to the temple. At least they could use their artes to give them shelter from the cold.

Velvet purposefully walked behind Eleanor as they made their way back inside.

Velvet couldn't vocalize it, but Eleanor was an excellent fighter. She was steady and balanced in her stances and had Velvet not been able to mentally prod her, she wouldn’t had lost.

She was certainly a capable soldier, she thought as Magilou’s tirade about convincing her to defect returned.

A frown creased her face for a moment. However, when Eleanor took a place to rest, it vanished and she began to wonder if such a concept really was so outlandish.

If she could be persuaded to turn against he Abbey, then she wouldn't have to worry so much about Laphicet’s well being.

“What?” Eleanor asked when she noticed Velvet staring.

“Don't think for a moment I trust you. You are willing to die for the man who murdered my brother and left me to rot in a prison. So, I hope you know that I intend to keep you on a very short leash,” Velvet warned ominously.

“I'll keep that in mind,” Eleanor replied, not at all surprised after she paused hearing Velvet's accusation of Artorious.

With no warning, Magilou appeared and wrapped herself around Velvet’s shoulders.

“I'll have you know I have an ensemble to go with that!” Magilou chirped mischievously with all the subtlety of a rockslide.

“Oh, hush,” Velvet rolled her eyes.

Eleanor, on the other hand, was not so amused. “Degenerate. Consorting with daemons!”

Magilou’s smirk didn't fade as she turned to her. “Jealous?”

She huffed and turned away. “Hardly!”


	5. Chapter 5

Ever since Eleanor had joined their party, Velvet had taken to letting Rokurou and Eizen lead. She would always hang back to watch Eleanor like a hawk as they finally returned to civilization. 

All because of that communication arte she and Eizen had seen her try and communicate with in secret. They were unable to get all the details, but they heard enough to know Eleanor was now conscripted as a spy. 

As they marched through the back alleys of the town they found themselves in, she frowned when she saw Eleanor wandering slightly from the group to watch the river of people just outside their view. 

It wasn’t just the fact that Eleanor was a spy, and a poor one at that, but the fact her gaze was now affixed to a team of Exorcists that wandered the town, turned her suspicion to anger. 

She turned to Eizen and with a gesture of her head, informed him to take the others out of sight. The pirate nodded, tapped the shoulders of the others and drew them away.

Eleanor, still oblivious that she and Velvet were alone, was hesitating if she should make a break for it and get her fellow exorcists to assist her. Yes, she did give her word, but it was to a daemon. And a rather cruel one at that. 

Her thoughts were interrupted when Velvet’s right hand clamped over her mouth and dragged her backwards into the alley and away from prying eyes. 

“You know,” Velvet hissed, “I really hate repeating myself, but it seems you don't want to listen.”

Eleanor tried to struggle and remove Velvet’s hand, but her grip was too strong. 

“So, let me give you some advice; learn to hold your tongue, Ms. Hume,” her claw unfurled and Eleanor instinctively held one of the digits, with her other free hand, at bay when it tried to grab her, “or else you might lose it!”

In a fit of panic, Eleanor tried to scream, tried to bite, tried to do anything, however, she was trapped and she could already feel the malevolence from Velvet’s claw reaching out to her. 

There was no escape. 

Defeated, Eleanor slumped in Velvet’s grip. The latter let her go and walked around to face her as Eleanor got her breath back and calmed herself. 

Visibly shaken, Eleanor looked up to Velvet and frowned. “Monster. You’re a twice damned monster,” Eleanor panted heatedly, “Hell’s not good enough for the likes of you!”

Velvet shrugged nonchalantly. “Just as the Abbey made me.”

The statement caught Eleanor off guard. 

Velvet folded her arms. “You heard me; you really think that I just appeared out of nowhere and started devouring everything in sight? Oh no. It never works like that. The Abbey wanted a monster. And you know what?” she extended her claw and held it in front of her face for emphasis, “they got one. And now, this monster is going to kill the one who made her. Since Artorious took everything from me, I am going to take everything from him and more or die trying!”

Velvet could see the questions running through Eleanor’s head as she retracted her claw, but now wasn’t the time. “Come on. The others are waiting.”

“Very well,” she answered quietly before she walked back to where they had first came. She felt physically ill with Velvet behind her, but could do nothing about it before she realized she had no idea where the rest of their group had gone. 

“This way,” Velvet ordered without the malice she had exuded a moment before. 

As she followed in step, Eleanor still couldn’t keep the questions down as she walked behind Velvet. She needed context and clarification. She needed answers. While she was still, for all intents and purposes, acting under Artorious’ orders, she couldn’t help but be curious why Velvet bore such an all-consuming grudge. Her own distaste for Velvet notwithstanding. 

As they weaved their way through the crowds, Eleanor thought, as she stayed close to her captor, ‘What happened to you, Velvet Crowe?’ Yes, she made no secret of her hatred towards Artorious and the basic details, but no further than that. 

When they eventually caught up with the rest of the group, she had to put her queries aside for now. 

Despondent, Eleanor sat apart from the group, her gaze stared into nothing, as they waited for their ship. Suddenly, she felt a smaller hand grasping her own.

The malak, no, Laphicet, stared at her.

“Eleanor. Are you ok?”

She pasused a moment, remembering she was to bring him back to Artorious, before nodding. 

“I am. Thank you for your consideration, Laphicet.”

Laphicet smiled a bit. “Good. I want to apologize for forcing you to sleep during your duel with Velvet. But, I didn’t want to die,” he looked down, his countenance downtrodden, “and I didn’t want you to die either.”

Eleanor blinked when Laphicet looked up to her. “I know you and Velvet don’t get along very well, and I understand that, but I don’t think that makes either one of you bad people. What happened to Velvet hurt her a lot.”

There was so many thing she could say. Yes, he was powerful enough to stop her, and yes, Artorious gave her permission to use whatever means at her disposal, manipulation being one of them, to retrieve him. 

She nodded back. “Thank you.”

However, she didn’t feel the need to. Not yet, anyway. 

*

“The exorcist,” Ceres rasped as she took Velvet’s shoulders from behind as they both sat in a the pit in Titania, “her trust in Artorious’ word is strong, but not unbreakable.”

She looked up from the ground as the only light that held back the darkness came from that accursed grate. 

“She’s rigid,” Velvet grumbled bitterly, “stubborn as a rock and just as aware.”

“And yet, you still need her,” Ceres answered dispassionately, “and she is not as rigid as you think. You saw how she wondered back at the port. You have given her questions that Artorious will not answer truthfully.”

Velvet’s gaze wandered to the side. “She does seem to ask questions. I overhear her speaking with Rokurou and Eizen often. But I don’t trust her.”

“You don’t need to. Continue to guide her along with the questions she seeks answers for. Continue as you are to frustrate Artorious’ plans further. It will reveal the truths he has hidden from her. Her faith in him will slowly be worn down like a rock against the wind.”

Velvet’s eyes narrowed. “That will require time. Time I don’t know if we have.”

“You must regardless. There can be no other way.”

“And what then?”

“If she is wise, she will swear herself to you. Her words and actions indicate she seeks to do good, but there is something hidden. Something she doesn’t want anyone to see. Something she hides under the veneer of her robes and of her station.”

“Such as?” Velvet asked as she turned her head enough to see Ceres’ bloody hand. 

“I do not know,” Ceres answered as she turned to the side, “however, it is something you can use. In time, she will reveal her secrets of her own accord, because she will find in you the means to gain her closure.”

“And what about my closure?” Velvet’s anger returned in force.

Ceres’ eyes narrowed. “Your impatience nearly cost you your life and our vengeance. It will come. Do not force it.”

“Easy for you to say,” she grumbled as her grip on her knees tightened. 

Ceres was quiet for a moment before she answered. “It was a year before I released you that my memories returned. It took me an additional half year to find the most opportune time to act. Again; you must be patient.”

Velvet snorted. “I promise nothing.”

“Then you will fail us both,” Ceres whispered ominously before Velvet’s eyes snapped open as she found herself in the cabin designated for her on the Van Eltia. 

The cold was not supposed to bother her, yet, she shivered at Ceres’ words. 

She stumbled out of her bed and got her clothes on before she exited her cabin and to the deck. The few members that had taken the night watch were still guiding the ship north. 

The exhaustion still made her eyes slightly blurry when she finally rubbed them to get a clearer view of the dawn and the person watching it. 

At the edge, Eleanor stood silently against the rail. She rested on her arms and alternated her gaze between the sun and the waves below. 

Velvet said nothing as she walked up beside her to watch the light break through the clouds. 

“You’re up early,” Velvet noted which caught Eleanor’s attention.

Eleanor looked to her a moment before answering. “Force of habit. And you? Afraid I’ll try to jump ship?”

She was still angry about the day before. Not that Velvet could blame her. 

“No,” she answered simply as she turned back to the sun. 

Eleanor was surprised again. While she didn’t explain why Velvet was up so early, she figured if it was something unrelated, then it was what it was. She turned back and let herself listen to the sound of the wind and the water below, unaware that Velvet’s gaze had turned back onto her. 

Whether it was habit or something else, Velvet’s left hand reached up and began to idly rub the tip of one of the braids which hung over her shoulder as she saw the wind waft Eleanor’s pigtails. 

Velvet couldn’t help but wonder why she still had her hair like that, given her proximity to enemies in close quarters combat and the liability they could pose. 

Still, they looked nice on her. 

*

The Reaper’s Curse had hit again. The Corsair’s Scourge had infected Eleanor worse than everyone had assumed when their outbreak was discovered. They were about to head out to search for a cure for the rest of the crew into the nearby Warg Woods when Eleanor collapsed and began to sing lullabies. 

“Little, little normin, soft as the snow…” Eleanor sang weakly as Velvet hefted her up in her arms. 

She looked down to the delirious Eleanor and back to their group of misfits, tempted to ‘request’ a volunteer to take care of her. 

Velvet leveled her eyes at the prospect of any of these knuckleheads trying to take care of Eleanor. 

“Alright; you four go on ahead and get the flower. I’ll stay behind and look after her. If the Scourge is as bad as we think it may be, I may not be able to do much, but me being here might be enough,” she ordered. 

“What?! How cruel, Velvet! And here I thought I was the only one worthy of your personal attention!” Magilou whined loudly. 

Velvet formed a frown. “She is going to be throwing up pretty soon. You really want to be here when that happens?”

Magilou tossed Laphicet on her shoulder and took Rokurou and Eizen’s hands. “Away! Away! Tarantara! Tarantara! We go! We go! We goooooo!” she sang even louder as they sped away. 

Velvet sighed deeply. She had no idea what she was supposed to do with the witch. Yes, the sex was good, albeit awkward at times, but still. 

She padded her way back onto the ship and back to the cabins. 

Gingerly, she put Eleanor on her cot before she slowly removed the jacket and hung it on the wall. 

Eleanor groaned weakly, ‘cold… so cold…”

Velvet slowly pulled the sheet to her neck and quickly walked to and from the mess hall with a soaked handkerchief and a water flask. She couldn’t do much about the fever, however, she could keep her comfortable and hydrated. 

Velvet put the towel on Eleanor’s forehead and then held the tip of the flask to her lips. 

“It’s water. You can drink this.”

Eleanor leaned her head up and took in several swallows before she exhaled and relaxed. 

Velvet put the flask to the side, took a chair from a distant table, and sat herself down on it.

From time to time, she would bring in a fresh towel and replace the old one. If Eizen was right, keeping the fever down could help slow the Scourge, but not stop it. 

Minutes turned to hours as she leaned against the wall to watch Eleanor breathe deeply. 

The sun was setting as Eleanor began to mumble. 

“Mom… dad… don’t go…” she whimpered. 

Velvet sighed. She could imagine what had happened. Then again, given what she had gone through, orphans were a common thing in this world. If children weren’t victims of the results of daemonblight, they themselves were afflicted by it. 

She frowned when she thought of how the Abbey easily used that to gain recruits. Eleanor being one of them, no doubt. 

“Good night, sleep tight, no more tears,” Eleanor sang again this time more lucid than before, “in the morning, I’ll be here.”

Velvet folded her arms as Eleanor continued. “And when we say good night, dry your eyes, because we said goodnight, and not good bye.”

The hardness in Velvet’s expression faded when she saw tears falling out of Eleanor’s closed eyes. “We say good night, and not… good bye.”

Eleanor began to sniff as Velvet, not irritated as usual with her weeping, slowly reached under the cover and took Eleanor’s hand. “I’m here,” she whispered, “You’re safe now.”

Velvet’s charge sniffed as she tilted her head slightly and her eyes fluttered open. “Who… who are…”

How could Velvet answer? She supposed there was only one way to go about it. 

She gave Eleanor’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “A friend.”

The weeping returned in force, as if Eleanor couldn’t believe it. Nevertheless, she sniffed again, loudly, and swallowed to allow herself to say, “thank you.”

Velvet nodded. “Rest now.”

She tilted her head the other way and let her breathing settle before long. 

It was finally night when the remaining four of their group returned. Tarnished, mangled, but accomplished. 

“Eleanor,” Velvet gently shook her shoulder, the mushy remains of a double dose of the flower in her other hand, “it’s time.”

Sweat and discoloration dotted Eleanor’s face and she had visible difficulty breathing, however, she opened her mouth and clamped her eyes shut when Velvet placed the mush inside. 

Her face scrunched up in disgust, but chewed and swallowed the medicine, nonetheless. She coughed a bit before Velvet offered her the water flask again. She weakly reached up with a free hand and drank greedily in the vain hopes of washing out the taste of the flower. 

With the flask emptied, Eleanor exhaled and let the medicine do its work as she fell asleep. 

“Oh ho,” Magilou said as Velvet exited the cabin, “quite a change from the little altercation you two had the other day, hmm?”

Velvet gave her a harsh look. “I was angry. Also, I’m not surprised you saw that.”

“Tee hee,” Magilou smirked, “Velvet the Vicious. Quite a handle, hm? You’d be interested to know the day you two had a chance to watch the dawn was because she was having nightmares.”

“What?”

She held her hands in her scariest post possible. “Yep! Oh, the tossing and turning, no doubt experiencing nightmares of you devouring her over and over again like some horrid, sadistic sideshow!”

Velvet grunted for lack of a better answer. 

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Dreams fade and die, like our hopes and dreams of a better life,” she casually pontificated before skipping back to the mess hall, leaving Velvet alone with her less than pleasant thoughts. 

*

When they departed Reneed the next day, Eleanor walked up to Velvet. “Um, I don’t know how best to say it, so, I will do so simply; Thank you for taking care of me. It must have been very difficult for you.”

Velvet was about to give a snarky response in turn, but instead, she caught herself and just nodded. “You’re welcome.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can guess what the encounter was based off of. 
> 
> Also, the song Eleanor sang was 'Good Night' by Amy Lee of Evanescence. Yes, I still like her stuff.
> 
> Also, Magilou's song...  
> https://youtu.be/Dehul5Vw-54


	6. Chapter 6

Velvet slowly opened her eyes as the first rays of sun crept through the window above them. She briefly looked to the sleeping Magilou under the crook of her arm and leaned her head against Magilou’s.

The day before had left them all exhausted after a run in with both Zaveid and the dragon that had been terrorizing the areas around Stonebury. It was finally when they got back to Port Zekson did they have a chance to recover at an inn while the Van Eltia underwent maintenance.

Once ready, they would make their way to Yseult.

Velvet sighed. Times like this she preferred to be in combat, because she was thinking more than where her enemies’ weak points where.

Magilou began to stir. She looked to Velvet with bleary eyes and smiled. “Morning, Velcakes.”

“Yes, it is,” she answered with a smirk.

“Hmm. It appears my razor sharp wit has influenced you along with your razor sharp blades,” Magilou observed smugly.

“Something like that,” Velvet let go, leaned up, threw her legs over the side of their bed, and stretched her arms.

“Another day at sea ahead,” Magilou noted dourly.

“No one’s forcing you to come other than that odd wager you have,” Velvet turned to her, slightly irritated.

“One hundred is a lot, you know!” Magilou protested as she sat at Velvet’s side.

Velvet’s eyes leveled. “We make a dozen times that much with the hunt targets the Blood Wings give us.”

“It's the principle of the thing!” Magilou defied haughtily, “besides, you know where and how to bite,” her smile became mischievous.

Velvet grumbled as she rolled her eyes. “You know, if you didn't have a penchant for ruining the moment, I'd want to ask you sooner.”

Magilou rose an eyebrow. “Ask me what?”

Velvet let loose a long exhale. “Magilou, you're obnoxious to a disgusting degree. You're also one of the only people that I can actually trust.”

Fear crept into Magilou’s face. “What are- are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

Velvet closed her eyes. “Yes. I want to give us a chance. Even though we both agreed to no strings, I'm not so sure that it's all I want.”

There was a pause.

Magilou snorted, threw her head back, and laughed.

“Wow, Velcakes!” She guffawed, “you really had me there!” Laughter continued until she realized that Velvet was not laughing. Even if she didn't laugh much, there would have been telltale signs she was not being serious.

There were none.

“Oh, gods,” color faded from Magilou’s face, “you're serious, aren't you?”

“I know,” Velvet looked back to the wall, “it’s just asking for trouble, considering what we are.”

Magilou looked to the ground. “If… if it doesn't work,” she began.

“…then it doesn't work,” Velvet finished for her, “it's easy to say, I admit, but I hope that if we both keep that in mind, then it'll be better for us both, no matter which way it goes. Bear in mind, it can still end in disaster one way or another.”

She said nothing as Magilou looked back to her as she waited for a response.

“Wow, Velcakes,” Magilou shook her head, “I don’t know. It sounds nice on the surface. A daring adventure of vengeance and justice with some action for us both on the side… but… I mean, to actually try and make something real out of a lie? I don’t know if… it’s just that…” she then stopped and turned back to Velvet, “why me of all people?!”

Velvet was thoughtful for a moment as she gathered the words she wanted to say. “Because,” a brief pause, “misery loves company. And if I missed my guess, you and I are pretty damn miserable.”

Magilou blinked. She then frowned and leaned into Velvet, “since when can you read me like that?”

“Every time you ‘Magickazam’,” Velvet gave a subdued version of Magilou’s trademarked gesture, “it’s basically you hiding in the open. Want me to go further?”

“Please don’t,” Magilou sighed, “A witch has to keep some secrets about her person.”

Velvet wrapped her arm around Magilou’s waist and pulled her close. “Pretty sure I’ve seen all of it.”

Now it was Magilou’s turn to smirk. “And I’m the dirty one?” She then crawled up and onto Velvet’s lap, wrapped her arms over Velvet’s shoulders and kissed her. “This is a doomed idea, Velcakes. I know this. You know this. And it can only end badly.”

Velvet’s smile only grew in proportion to Magilou’s frown. “But then again, since when has that stopped me? I’m in.”

The former twirled around and placed a squeaking Magilou on the bed before she crawled over her lover and kissed her possessively.

“This is a bad idea,” Velvet growled as she intertwined the fingers of her left hand with Magilou’s right.

“Absolutely horrendous,” Magilou answered as she guided Velvet’s hand down her waist.

“There is a real chance that this could go bad and explode in our faces,” Velvet added as her hand slid into Magilou’s entrance and began to roam with her index finger, which caused the latter to gasp.

Magilou hummed in appreciation. “We could even come to hate each other,” she paused and furrowed her brow, “I mean, more than we already do.”

Velvet’s hand circled around the folds as Magilou began to squirm. “I wouldn’t say we hate each other. That’s too strong a word. I hate Artorious. That’s a given.”

Magilou’s hips shivered as she tried to feel more of Velvet’s hand. “True. And what better way for me to show my affection for you, Velcakes, than to annoy you all the live long day?”

She pinched the collection of nerves gently, which made Magilou’s hips jut upward. “I think I’m getting used to it, because I don’t think I can imagine the idea of you being anything but obnoxious.”

Breath came quickly and more paced for Magilou as she tried to reply with sweat on her brow. “I simply must try harder then! Why, and perish the thought, if we ever truly got serious, then imagine the domestic bliss because we both know how to live with each others’ shortcomings?! It would be horrendous!”

Velvet chuckled as her stroking got longer and more drawn out. “I don’t think you’re the domestic type.”

“I can… oohh, I can be just as domestic as you can, Velcakes, I, hmm, just don’t want to!” Magilou struggled as her head swam in fire.

“Which is the one thing I can count on,” Velvet smirked as she leaned in close and kissed her lover again as Magilou whimpered loudly.

The latter held on for dear life as she felt her spine and, subsequently, limbs tingle. She panted for a long moment before Velvet finally let go and lay beside her.

She sighed contentedly as she looked up to a beaming Velvet before she asked, “is this supposed to be the part where we bask in the afterglow or something? I keep forgetting which one of those trashy romance novels does that.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Velvet rolled her eyes, “the purple prose was too much for me as it described her ‘heaving breasts’.”

Magilou snickered. “It was still better when they talked about their ‘wonton’ behavior.”

Velvet groaned. “Don’t remind me.”

*

Velvet’s irritation increased the more Eleanor and Oscar argued.

“It was a necessary sacrifice, Eleanor. You of all people should know that,” Oscar declared.

“Sacrifice?! How can you call it that? She’s just a child! How can you expect her to understand that at such an age?!” Eleanor was already on the verge of tears.

“It is unfortunate, however, the end result remains the same. It is how we can spare needless suffering.” He drew his sword.

“At what cost?!” Eleanor fought back sobs at the memory of seeing the therion devour its own mother out of survival.

“Like I said, a necessary sacrifice. And those who don’t have the will to endure are-” he didn’t get a chance to finish as Velvet charged and back handed him off his feet and into the wall.

For good measure, she dashed after him and dug her fist into Oscar’s diaphragm, which knocked the wind out of him as he collapsed to the floor.

“About time you shut up,” she grumbled as she kicked his sword away and gave Eleanor a cursory glance. While briefly surprised at her intervention, Eleanor seemed… almost relieved? She could have stepped in, but didn’t. Eleanor’s silence was promising.

“Hahah! As they said in the tumultuously short lived Gahmeir era, ‘Geet Rekt, Skrahb’!” Magilou taunted the unconscious Oscar.

Wailing from the back of the room brought all their attention to the malformed child on her knees as she called for her mother.

With Oscar out of the way, dispatching the Therion would be much easier now as she walked forward.

“Velvet,” Laphicet protested as he stepped in her way, “you’re not really going to-”

“Move,” she ordered to give Laphicet the chance to step out of her way as she unfurled the Therion’s Claw.

“What?! Velvet, no!” Eleanor stood in front of her as her patience wore thinner with every delay.

“I don’t recall asking for your opinion,” Velvet’s eyes narrowed as her tone grew dangerous.

“Velvet, you can’t! She’s still a chi-”

She didn’t get a chance to finish as Velvet grabbed her collar, drew her close and snarled in her face, “this was never up for discussion!” she shoved Eleanor aside and loomed over the mutated child with the black and green carapace that covered her body.

The child looked up to her, still disoriented and face soaked from crying.

“Please! You can just break the link! It will weaken Innominat! She doesn’t need to die!” Eleanor begged, more desperate this time.

Velvet raised her hand, ready to complete the deed.

It would be quick.

“Velvet!”

The child, in her mind’s eye, looked like a younger Eleanor for an instant.

There would be no pain.

“NO, VELVET!”

Again, she changed. This time, she looked like a younger version of herself.

Like an executioner’s axe, her hand cut through the air towards its target.

“VELVET!”

There was a dead silence as everyone heard the crackle of the seal around the child resist for a moment, only to shatter an instant later.

The child, still unaware of what had happened, looked to the fading yellow lights around them as Velvet turned around and strode back to the rest of her group.

She turned to Eleanor, who shook horribly, and stated curtly, “Don’t celebrate too soon. Grimoirh mentioned something that I’m still curious about. If she has to die, she will. Until then, I best not regret this.”

Eleanor nodded energetically before she and Laphicet dashed forward to collect the child.

“Hmm hmm,” Magilou observed with her hand on her chin and a smirk on her lips, “I had my suspicions and it turns out I was right.”

“About what?” Velvet shot back, clearly agitated.

“There’s something in Eleanor that reminds you of another time, another place, another you. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have listened and the kid would be dead now,” Magilou tittered.

Velvet was silent a moment. “Don’t get the wrong idea,” she answered, “it would have broken her. And we would have lost Laphicet. That’s all.”

The Cheshire grin on Magilou’s face told her she was not as convincing as she thought she was. “Whatever you say, Velcakes.”

*

“Lord Artorious would never-?”

A loud crack drew all their attention to Velvet, her malformed arm unfurled and gripped against the wall. Her gaze was one of barely restrained anger, her snarl quivering with rage, and heavy breathing.

“Dammit, Eleanor! All this and you still keep that bastard on a pedestal!?”

All their gazes turned to Eleanor as she realized how badly she had erred.

“Forget it,” Velvet growled, suddenly ripping her claws through the stone, then changed back. “We’re done for now. Rest up, all of you. We’re meeting up with the Blood Wings once we get to Zekson.”

She climbed up the ladder as quickly as she could and as she stomped her way to the pier, everyone had the presence of mind to give her a wide berth.

Circle after circle she marched left a splash in the rain that began to fall, but Velvet couldn’t feel any of the chill that normally accompanied it, even if her hair and clothes were soaked.

The frown in her face started to hurt as she continually went back to Eleanor’s disbelief at her experiences.

Even if Magilou was right and she did see a bit of herself in Eleanor, it was covered under layers and layers of lies from Artorious.

She stomped up to one of the corner settings for the rails, opened her claw, and bat it into the ocean.

What would it take for Eleanor to really listen for once?!

She held onto the chest high stone walls and gripped it harder than she was aware of.

It was then she noticed the rain stopped and the sky began to clear.

Half of the moon peeked out from behind the clouds and a dark thought emerged from the back of her mind.

The Frenzy.

Would that convince her that this condition she was subjected to was not of her own choosing? That Artorious forced all this upon her?

She snorted at the idea.

She could feel the hunger a Frenzy sometimes had, however, the moon wasn’t in its proper position nor was it the same color when she’d lose control.

Furthermore, Eleanor wasn’t the kind of prey Velvet would hunt for. Just murder outright, most likely, however, she would prefer not to ruin Laphicet’s vessel. She still needed his power, after all.

Right now, she was tired.

If she was going to be of any use she needed to sleep now. Besides, she was sure Seres had a few thing to say to her at the moment. She frowned and grumbled at the prospect, however, there was no getting around it.

She pushed herself off the railing and back inside.

*

Velvet stood alone in the tundra between Hellaweves and Beardsley. Yet, both towns seemed so much more distant than before.

“Hmph,” Velvet put her hands on her hips, “What happens when you finally catch up to where I am? Give me a review of my bad behavior immediately after the fact?”

“An interesting prospect, but no. It would be irrelevant to the topic at hand,” Seres answered, not as raspy and dead as the last time.

Velvet rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Look, you told me to get Eleanor to trust me. You seen what’s happened? I’ve shown her more than enough proof and she still doesn’t believe! What is her problem?!”

Seres was quiet a moment before she stepped out from beside Velvet and put her hands to her back.

“There is no problem. You are simply impatient,” Seres said as the blood on her dress continued to drip into the snow. At least the stones that lanced her were gone, yet it left the very noticeable gaping holes in her torso.

“As you’ve previously stated,” Velvet frowned deeply.

“And you have yet to listen,” Seres countered bluntly, “doubt has tainted her faith in the Abbey and Artorious. While her goal of a world without malevolence, while naive in light of recent events, she has allowed herself to seek the truth outside of his word. When the time comes, then she will pledge herself to you of her own volition.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Velvet grumbled bitterly.

“You will,” Seres turned to her, her eyes the same frightening abyss with the glowing, fiery coals for pupils, “and when the time comes, do not allow your rage to cloud your judgment the way her blind trust in Artorius has clouded hers.”

Velvet snorted loudly before she woke up under the figurehead of the Van Eltia as the mainland slowly came into view.


	7. Chapter 7

“It’s the Frenzy, isn’t it?” Magilou asked as Velvet dressed herself, “you’ve been twitchy all day. And, I must say, a lot more aggressive as of late,” she smirked mischievously as she waggled her eyebrows for emphasis, “not that I mind it.”

“While I am aware of your tendencies for roughness, I’d rather not tear you to shreds when I’ve gone feral,” Velvet leveled her eyes, not in the mood for jokes when she felt the hunger in her stomach start to grow.

“Only so long it’s not on our wedding night! I got special plans for that!” she announced back as Velvet walked out of the door.

She rolled her eyes as she paused a moment by Eleanor’s door, no doubt aware of what happened. What worried her was no one had said anything to her about the Frenzy.

It was an ugly thought; Eleanor unable to cope with the idea that Velvet’s curse able to turn her into an even more hideous monster than what she already was.

As if the results of her journey to Haria were bad enough, she did not need this as fuel for Artorious to turn Eleanor against her.

Though she had, for all intents and purposes, turned against the Abbey, Velvet still needed more than just that. She needed Eleanor’s trust. She needed Eleanor to believe her and believe in her. Just wanting to see the truth wasn’t enough.

It was certainly a tall order for her when Eleanor still fervently believed in those absurd Principles of Reason, not to mention her empiricism.

She sighed to herself as she walked out of the inn and down the hill towards the entrance.

“Hello, friend,” a familiar voice said at her side.

She turned to see Amelia, the local member of the Blood Wings, give her a casual wave as she stepped up to her.

“Hello,” she answered back with a cordial nod.

They knew each other and their business enough to stay out of each others’ way.

“Got some news,” she said with her arms folded, “and it’s about your friend back at the inn.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, seems that some people are a bit confused about her. So, they’re sending people to inquire about her beliefs. It may not be a good idea, since they are rather particular.” The wording she chose told Velvet one thing.

Inquisitors.

The Abbey’s personal pursuit and hit squads.

Velvet didn’t even know they existed until she saw them at the Villa, however, they were as dangerous as they were cunning, if the Blood Wings were to be believed.

“It looks like they’re going to be disappointed,” Velvet answered with a scowl, “she’s feeling rather under the weather and they’re just going to have to wait.”

Amelia nodded. “Just thought I’d let you know.”

“Appreciate it,” Velvet answered as she strode to the door and away.

“We’re closing the doors, ya know,” the guard said, confused as to why anyone would want to leave so close to sunset.

“I know,” she answered stoically, “I’ll be back in the morning. Have some urgent business I need to take care of in Zekson.”

“Well, be careful. It’s getting more and more dangerous out there.”

Velvet nodded as she held back a rather sarcastic remark about who was in more danger.

Sure enough, when Velvet had been sure she was out of sight of the gate and of the guards, she exhaled and closed her eyes.

When they opened, the white in her sclera had changed to black as the gold in her eyes shone with an unearthly light.

Her claw unfurled.

The right hand followed suit.

Red and black encased her form as she hunched over.

She hungered for meat.

Hungered for blood.

She could smell the meat.

She hungered.

She heard the wind scream.

The meat consumed.

She hungered.

It struggled.

She slaughtered.

It was silent.

She hungered.

Taste of meat.

Splash of red.

Warm and thick.

Ever feeding.

Always more.

A new scent.

Familiar scent.

Not daemon.

Still meat.

Familiar scent.

It ran.

She hungered.

It is scared.

The scent.

Familiar…

…fear.

…pain.

…blood.

…daemon.

…no.

No!

NO!

She ran.

No thoughts!

Fear!

TRAPPED!

CAGE!

DARK!

NO!

…

Familiar scent.

Not daemon.

Not meat.

Not prey.

…

…friend.

Friend scared.

Friend sad.

She is sad.

She hurts.

Friend is warm.

She is tired.

So tired.

*

Velvet’s eyes opened slowly as she felt a dreadful headache pulsing on her dark brown skin as if someone had used a hammer against her skull.

Beside her, Eleanor was fast asleep. If the cuts, mud, and blood on her uniform was of any indication, not to mention the mutilated corpses of half a dozen other daemons strewn about, last night was certainly eventful.

Both of them reclined in the crook of a tree. Around them, Eleanor had improvised a Shelter Arte, meant to keep travelers hidden in plain sight when inns were not an option. It was rudimentary, but effective.

Eleanor leaned against her and Velvet could not help but notice that her hair was not in their usual pigtails. Below, she noticed the two sun clips she always wore had fallen out of her hand and onto the ground between them.

Quietly, she reached downward and picked them up. She spared a glance at both her and the clips before she gingerly placed them back in her hand.

Not a moment after, Eleanor stirred and the hand that held the clips closed quickly.

“Hm? Oh. Velvet,” Eleanor mumbled as she rubbed the exhaustion from her eyes, “you’ve changed back.”

“Yeah,” she answered, Velvet answered when she pushed herself up and out of the tree. She had only taken a few steps before she stumbled and landed unceremoniously on the ground.

She grunted angrily. Whenever the Frenzy took hold of her she would be temporarily weaker for a time after another increase of strength, however, the subsequent and temporary debilitation often wore off whenever she had passed out.

Looks like it wasn’t the case this time.

She turned to see Eleanor also stand up on shaky feet before she staggered over to Velvet. “Need help?”

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t,” she muttered loud enough for her to hear, “would you, please?” she extended a hand to Eleanor.

The Exorcist smiled a bit and took her hand to help hoist her up to her feet.

Had she not been there, Velvet would have teetered over and fallen again. Eleanor slung Velvet’s arm over her shoulder and steadied herself as she turned back to Stonebury.

“Ready?” Eleanor asked with one arm around Velvet’s waist and the other holding her lance.

Velvet nodded as she unsheathed her sword briefly to ensure it was still functional. She frowned when she heard squeaking from the gauntlet.

“I’m sure the merchant will have something to help maintain it when we return,” Eleanor said as she started to walk.

“Think he’ll have something to make sure I don’t go berserk every now and then?” she asked with a smirk.

While Eleanor didn’t find it particularly hilarious, she did crack a smile. “I think something like this is a bit out of their league.”

Velvet shrugged as she struggled to keep pace with Eleanor’s march. “It was worth a try.”

So began their long trek back to town.

*

“She’s coming around,” Magilou noted with a smile. A real smile as far as Velvet could tell. It was so rare to see one on her face and Velvet made sure to remember that next time it happened. If it did.

“I think so. She and I had an interesting discussion earlier,” Velvet said as she removed the blade from her gauntlet.

“I’ll bet,” Magilou replied with a smirk, “a deathground conflict against incredible odds! Heroes emerging from the ruin, victorious! And thus, love blooms on the battlefield!” She began to squeal happily and prance about the room. “It’s so romantic! It’s perfect! I need to put this in another one of my serials!”

Velvet leveled her eyes. “Just please don’t mention us by name, alright? I’ve read some of the passages you’ve left out and, well, they need work.”

“Ah!” Magilou countered, “But you have read them!”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Velvet carefully slid the edge of her blade against the whetstone.

Magilou was quiet for a moment before she asked, “has she really come around?”

Velvet paused before she answered. “I think so. She made an addition to her vow,” she stopped before she fully analyzed when Eleanor had sworn, “she is placing her trust in me and hopes that one day I’ll trust her.”

“That is… surprisingly sweet of her,” Magilou observed, “and since you’re the Lord of Calamity, you’re going to take advantage of that, right?”

She didn’t miss a beat. “No.”

Magilou blinked in surprise. “That’s… not something I expected to hear from the one who took blame for the destruction of Hellaweves and Haria.”

Velvet examined the edge she had just cleaned as she gathered her thoughts. “I’ve said a lot of things, Magilou. You know this. I’ve done worse. And nothing’s changed; I am going to avenge my brother. I am going to kill Artorious. And if that’s to happen, I need Eleanor on my side, not just for Laphicet’s sake.”

She smirked in response. “But your own as well? Goodness. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you really were growing fond of her.”

“I remember what you said at Palamedies,” Velvet fastened the top of the setting on her gauntlet, “and, as much as I hate to admit it; you’re right.”

Magilou giggled and flipped her hair with a flourish. “Of course I’m right! You wear your heart on your sleeve, Velcakes! Makes it easy to read. And it says, ‘I hurt inside! Please love me!’”

Velvet looked up from her project with leveled eyes. “Must you do that?”

“Of course!”

She sighed. “Well, if it keeps you out of trouble, I won’t complain too much.”

“Nyeah heh heh!”

It was too much to ask for, evidently.

*

The bridge of Vortigern, even in her dreamscape, was barren, dull, and the water was a lot more distant than it was when she was actually there.

She sat on the edge and would idly swing her legs, as if she was young again.

That seemed so long ago.

“An odd choice to come here of all places,” Seres noted as she took a seat beside her. Her dress was still bloody, but at least her wounds were starting to close.

“I don’t think I have much control over where and when we have these conversations,” Velvet answered, slightly annoyed, “though, I still prefer it to the nightmares of being back in Titania.”

Seres turned to her. “I am not surprised to hear that. What you went through cannot simply fade now that you’re no longer experiencing it.”

She looked down, despondent. “I still can’t taste anything.”

Seres nodded. “Is there anything else that brings it to the forefront?”

She looked to the distance and let her eyes glaze over. “It’s not the dark itself that reminds me. It’s the quiet. It was so quiet. I could barely even hear the crackle of the torches in the hall above where my cell was. It was… deafening.”

“That explains your decision to throw your lot in with the witch.”

She smirked in response. “Is it that obvious?”

Seres shrugged. “She is loud and forward. Also, you were always more enamored with Niko than any man that tried to approach you. It was hard to miss.”

Velvet snorted. “I’m not surprised you figured it out. Though… I’m grateful you didn’t say anything… sometimes I wish you had.”

“It is conjecture at this point,” Seres stood up, “you have made progress with the exorcist. She now trusts you.”

She flinched momentarily. “I wish she didn’t have to see me controlled by the Frenzy for it to happen.”

“Why is that? She now places more trust in your word and you than her need to see the truth with her own eyes. Even if you were monstrous in appearance, she still saw you and not the curse.”

Velvet was silent a moment. “True. I just don’t like admitting that she reminds me of… well, me, when I actually had a future. As easy as it is for me to fault her, she at least does it to help people.”

She flinched when she felt Seres kneel next to her and whisper ominously, “Don’t be too sure of that.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s never so simple,” Seres continued, “the daemon scent on her that broke you out of your frenzy still lingers. Whatever happened to her is still part of her. She may do it out of selflessness, however, there is always something there. For all we know, she holds just as much as a desire for vengeance as you do. If the daemon that did that to her still breathes, then she will stop at nothing to kill it.”

“The thought had occurred to me,” Velvet’s eyes focused.

“If you do hold any sort of affection towards her like you do the witch, then be vigilant. It could easily lead to disaster.”

Velvet’s eyes snapped open as she looked out of the window of her cabin. They were still two days from Titania after retrieving Medissa.

There was something wrong, but she couldn’t tell what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 7-17-2017:  
> Just a note; going to take a bit of a hiatus from this to collaborate in the 'Tales of Femslash Week' that's going up on Tumblr next week. Will still work on this, but the prompts are taking priority. And I'm gonna post them here. :)


	8. Chapter 8

Seres watched the morning sun of Velvet’s dreams from the edge of Reneed as Velvet approached. 

The latter sat upon the ground, drew her knees to her face and just stared. 

She didn’t want to be there, but she clearly had little choice in the matter. 

Seres knew what happened. 

Aball. 

Or, the illusion of it. 

Of course it was too good to be true. 

Velvet’s memory was too good to allow something so traumatic to simply be let go as something dreamed up. 

Seres, mostly whole, drew her hand to her face and narrowed her eyes. 

She knew Velvet and the others had tried to discern the reason why such a powerful arte had been used to try and capture Velvet. However, Seres was not convinced. Her time with the Abbey, especially when working with Melchior, had given her an understanding that the Shepherd’s Shadow was never one to stick with just one objective. There was something more. 

“Hmm,” Seres muttered, “longing indeed.”

Velvet looked up to her with many questions that begged to be asked. However, there was hesitation. 

It didn’t escape Seres’ notice as she turned and tilted her head. “Something bothers you. And it was not simply just Aball.”

Velvet stared at her for a moment before she nodded. “Do… do you ever wonder what it would have been if you hadn’t died? You hadn’t been reincarnated? That you still would have been Celica?”

Seres did not hesitate. “No.”

Velvet seemed disappointed as she turned back to stare at the marsh. 

“That is, until now.”

Velvet turned back to her, shocked and surprised. 

“While it is conjecture at this point, I suppose our life could have been somewhat idyllic. The malevolence notwithstanding.”

Velvet chuckled. “Maybe I could have gotten strong enough to fight daemons without resonance.”

“Perhaps,” Seres turned her gaze back to the sun. 

“I don’t like it,” Velvet muttered, “I don’t like him. Melchior. I feel violated. He was able to use my own memories against me. I knew what happened that night and that bastard tried to turn what I wanted against me.”

“You wanted it to be a dream?” Seres probed. 

“A part of me wanted it to be all just a bad dream,” she raised her bandaged hand, “but, if I am being honest, I would just be lying to myself just to feel better. If I can feel better.”

Seres clasped her hands behind her. “Ours is not a path meant for better things. There will be more death, more destruction, and more ruin before this comes to an end.”

“I’m aware of that,” Velvet’s eyes narrowed in hopes of finally seeing the ever stoic and calm Artorious Colbrande screaming in pain and agony the way he made her scream. 

“Tread lightly,” Seres warned, “the fact they singled you out with something so elaborate indicates they know exactly what you may do. Expect anything.”

Velvet woke and forced herself out of bed. She settled her breath for a moment before she dressed and padded down the hallway from the room she had taken for herself in Titania. 

There were times she wished she could still feel the cold. 

On one of the turrets, she watched the morning sun that peeked through the clouds and into her eyes. 

She couldn’t remember the last time she ever done so for the sake of her own enjoyment. 

Her gaze became downcast when she had to admit to herself that it had been far too long since she had really enjoyed… well, anything these days. 

Everything was part of her revenge. Her quest for vengeance. 

Now, she had an uneasy feeling the pit of her stomach; what happens afterwards if she survives?

What then?

She had no answer. 

*

“I’d ask you how you’re doing, but given what happened at Aball, I can wager a guess,” Eleanor stated as she took a seat beside Velvet. 

“That obvious, hm?” Velvet didn’t look up from her plate. 

She could feel that Eleanor wanted to say more, but thankfully kept her peace as the rest of the Van Eltia’s crew and their mistfit companions went about their business. 

It was a comfortable silence. 

Velvet sighed lowly and felt the inclination to thank Eleanor for her company, brief as it was, before she would take her leave. 

However, she then felt Eleanor’s hand gently clasp hers. She could feel the warmth of Eleanor’s hand through the bandages. It was nice. 

“It’s strange of me to say this, but; I envy you,” Eleanor whispered with her gaze forward. 

“How so?” 

“The fact that you have memories of your hometown. While it’s become rather dubious, given what happened, the fact that you have memories of your home means there was some frame of reference for you to know what it was like to be happy.”

Velvet’s lips thinned as she remembered Eleanor’s scar. 

“You said you were, what, nine? Ten? When your village got leveled?”

Eleanor nodded. 

“How much do you remember?”

Now it was Eleanor’s turn to appear downtrodden. 

“Not much, I’m afraid. With the exception of my braids, I don’t really have much to remember from my youth. My uncle the fisherman. The stone we once protected. Another survivor from the town. Other than that, there’s nothing. And even those will fade in time.”

Velvet’s hand slowly turned upward and clasped Eleanor’s hand with her own. 

“Now it’s my turn to say something strange; you’re not alone, Eleanor. Our disagreements aside, I’m glad you’re here.”

She turned to see Eleanor blush and beam with a smile. She used her free hand to move her bangs out of her face and let her smile grow. 

“Thank you. I’m glad I am too.”

Velvet let out a chuckle. “Strange, isn’t it? The fact that I’ve been doing all this for revenge and despite all that and what I’ve done, you’re not only here with us, you’re…” Velvet hesitated when she realized what she was going to say, “you’re here with me and Magilou as well.”

“Well,” Eleanor sighed with faux haughtiness, “someone has to act as your conscience, after all. Though, I know I may not be the best candidate, given my own biases, I am grateful that you trust me enough to consider me as such.”

Velvet smirked, leaned over, and kissed Eleanor on her temple. “What I did to Hellaweves and Haria notwithstanding?”

Eleanor nodded. “It wasn’t the best thing, however, given what has happened since, I’m not so sure I could live with myself, knowing the alternative and doing nothing.”

“If it makes you feel any better, if we survive this, I was thinking about going back to Hellaweves and see what I could do to repair the damage I did.”

Eleanor blinked in surprise. “Are you sure? I don’t know if they’d take too kindly to you coming back and admitting what happened.”

“Who said I was going to? I could just be a wandering stranger who saw people in need and decided to help, much like a certain Investigator,” Velvet smiled again and leaned on her free arm on the table. 

Eleanor hummed audibly and closed her eyes in thought briefly. “I suppose that would be enough.”

Velvet laughed for a moment and looked down to her hand, her fingers now interlaced with Eleanor’s. 

“I’m glad you’re here,” she whispered again. 

Eleanor nodded. “So am I.”

*

“Teresa,” Velvet rumbled as she walked up to the former governor as the Van Eltia made landfall and camp, “we need to talk.”

There was a tangible air of tension as Velvet took Teresa aside and away from prying eyes at the edge of camp. 

“As much as I despise talking to you, I have no choice. What is it?”

“What happens after we take Dis away? You’ve already lost your standing in the Abbey and after we leave, I highly doubt the Abbey is simply going to let it slide,” Velvet muttered with her arms crossed. 

“They will most likely either have me completely dismissed from the Abbey or they will put me in another prison, as Titania is no longer suitable for anything anymore.”

Velvet frowned. “And all this just to delay the inevitable? I understand how you feel, but-”

“A monster like you could never understand!” Teresa cut through angrily, “He is all I have. He-”

Velvet cut her off, grabbed her by the collar of her dress and dragged her face to face. 

“You think you’re the only one?!” Velvet snarled, “I’m telling you this for your own good; he gets in my way, he is dead! So, I suggest you use that head of yours to keep him ‘safe from harm’ or whatever that means before I kill Artorious! I don’t give a damn after that. But just be grateful at least you have someone to call family.”

Teresa scoffed. “You don’t think I know, daemon? I’m aware of your little grudge against the Shepherd. Rather pointless, don’t you think?”

“He was my brother!” Velvet spat angrily, half tempted to devour her then and there, “And Artorious murdered him! And for what?! For this twisted lie of a world?!”

Teresa cocked an eyebrow. “You really think so? Would you rather let the world keep spiraling into darkness until there’s nothing left? Sacrifices have to be made to save humanity, after all.”

“Don’t you dare speak to me of such things!” Velvet was on the verge of striking her, “I’ve seen your ‘reason’. I’ve seen your ‘logic’. It’s just another flimsy excuse to separate those who you can label as something less. Know this; Teresa, if Oscar is so precious to you, I hope you keep your end of the bargain, because know that I can and I will kill him in front of you! Just to rub the salt in the wound, I’ll finish the job I did in Titania and devour him whole; starting with his other eye!”

Teresa faltered and quaked at the threat, then nodded. “I will. With everything I am, I will.”

Velvet huffed, her anger kindled for now. “Good to see we’re on the same page for now.”

She stalked off and fumed at her failure to try and recruit Teresa as she did Eleanor. However, it seemed that she was even more hard-headed than Eleanor was and their time together was even shorter. 

It was only going to go downhill from there, wasn’t it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to admit; adding in Seres to the narrative's been a challenge, given the super spoilers we know about her, and how the story works as it does without her. 
> 
> She'll get her due. And no, she's not going to keep bugging Velvet about killing Artorious. She has her priorities after all.


	9. Chapter 9

Velvet’s escape from despair was something that should have been in one those books Laphicet would have read. 

And yet, he was the one that, inadvertently, orchestrated this in the first place. 

She sat on the surf of Haria as the waves lapped at her feet, though the water itself did not feel wet. 

She had overcome, yes, however, the wounds, freshly torn open and salted for good measure, of her brother’s betrayal still hurt. 

“I should have known,” Seres noted, despondent as Velvet as she too took a seat on the sand, “we’d been played for fools this whole time. The Therions, Dragonia and Lineres, even the illusion at Aball. Distractions one and all.”

Velvet only listened in part as tears welled up in her eyes. “And he lied to me. My own brother. He lied about everything. And now he’s subsumed or fused with that… that thing that calls itself my brother.”

Seres gave a cursory glance at Velvet before nodding. “That is most surprising of all. The secrets in plain sight. It made sense that he did not struggle on the Scarlet Night when Artorious slew him.”

Velvet turned an accusatory glance at her. “You were there, though.”

Seres nodded. “However, I was not privy to the plans they made… nor your brother’s condition or decision to become a sacrifice.”

Velvet snorted in disgust. “Looks like Artorious kept secrets from everyone, even you.”

“Yes. There was much he refused to elaborate on, even when I served as his malak.”

Velvet’s gaze steeled at the sun through the clouds. “Enslaving his wife’s reincarnation. What a sick, twisted bastard.”

“Be that as it is,” Seres stood up, “we must continue. The fact that Innominat has shown himself may work in our favor.”

“How do you figure?”

“He wanted your despair. And you banished it. Now, he needs another source that must be cultivated in order to awaken fully. For now, he is vulnerable. Yet, so are we.”

Velvet hummed. “I don’t know if I can keep going like this, knowing what happened.”

Seres was about to berate her, but held her words back and nodded. What she had gone through at the Earthpulse was harrowing and, all things considered, she needed to recover. 

“Rest, then,” she took a seat beside Velvet and held her shoulder gently. “Recover your strength and find a means to process what you just experienced. You need to be completely sound in mind as well as body before you should face them again.”

She turned to Seres and smirked a bit. “For our revenge’s sake?”

Seres matched her smile, slightly. “That too.”

She reached up and clasped Seres’ hand affectionately. Yes, Seres was someone completely different than Celica, however, the familiarity was still there. 

She nodded. “I will.” Her smile faded as she allowed herself to collapse on Seres’ lap as she watched the clouds cover the sun. “I’m so tired.”

“I know.” Seres stroked her hair the way Celica did as her eyes closed slowly. For the first time in so long, she witnessed neither dream nor nightmare as she felt the blissful calm of sleep. “I know.”

She wasn’t sure how long she had slept when the gentle rocking of the Van Eltia woke her. She felt groggy and sluggish, however, she forced herself to her feet and into her uniform. She padded through the hallway and noted the last few members of the night crew and welcomed her with hushed congratulations on her escape. 

She nodded in response and slowly went to the cabin where she, herself, and, now, Eleanor normally would have taken residence. She peeked through the door and saw a happily sleeping Magilou, cuddled up against an equally sleeping Eleanor. The latter’s arm held the witch protectively and Velvet’s smile returned a bit at the display. 

It looks like she was now truly part of their unusual arrangement. 

She closed the door as quietly as she could and made her way to the deck. 

It was just before dawn and she could see the red and orange peeking across the horizon. 

*

“Are you really sure, Velcakes?” Magilou asked, surprisingly more concerned about someone else’s well being more than she ever was before. 

Velvet nodded. “I don’t like it any more than you do. And honestly, given what we’ve gone up against and how things have changed, it would be for the best. For now, anyway.”

Magilou sighed openly and shrugged. “I agree with you, Velcakes, however, without you, our intrepid leader to, well, lead us, I can easily see this going south. If anything, it was your relentless desire for revenge that somehow was able to get us this far, our collective bad luck notwithstanding.”

Velvet folded her arms. “You got any better ideas?”

Magilou threw her head back and guffawed. “Me? Better ideas?! Let’s hope it never comes to that or else we’d truly be finished!”

“At any rate,” Eleanor interjected as she hurried down from the gangplank as Reneed’s dusk descended on them all, “we will do everything we can to hold off both the Abbey and the daemons in the meantime.”

A small smile grew on Velvet’s face at Eleanor’s competence. While she was not officially, or unofficially, taking command of their little troupe, in addition to the several attacks by bounty hunters hired by the Inquisitors after her, her field experience was going to be vital for their survival. 

“I’ll be depending on you, Eleanor,” she said solemnly, “I’d rather be out there doing something but…”

“It’s alright, Velvet,” the former-Exorcist finished for her, “I’m used to working with far less than what we have. You can count on me.”

She looked Eleanor square in the eye and her smile grew a bit more, “I know I can. Just be careful, alright?” 

Eleanor beamed happily and saluted quickly before she scurried back to the Van Eltia to assist Benwick and Eizen preparing for departure. 

“Don’t let her ‘eager to please’ demeanor fool you,” Magilou warned with a licentious grin, “she can be very… enthusiastic.”

Velvet snorted before she turned away to join Grimoire at the edge of the pier. “And you should know.”

“And how, Velcakes!” Magilou shouted back before her mischievous giggle was the last thing Velvet heard as she trod to Grimoire, face still in a book. 

“Hmm,” the Normin observed, “you certainly have a way of choosing interesting companions.”

“If only it were that simple,” Velvet answered with a roll of her eyes, “Before we met, she tried to bring me into her bed with roses placed in plain sight.”

Grimoire nodded in understanding. “That sounds like her, alright. It’s not so much being blunt, it’s being the showman she sees herself as.”

“Kind of like me, hm?” Velvet probed.

Grimoire looked up to her, as if in study, “in some ways, yes. You and yours are not the conventional group of ‘heroes’ one often reads in stories.”

Velvet frowned. “I’m not really a hero.”

“Of course not. But then again, neither was Claudin Asgard before he established Midgand… when he was sober.”

Velvet cocked an eyebrow. “Was he really that big a drinker?”

Grimoire chuckled darkly. “Everyone has their personal vices. Strong drink was his. I even offered to help him with his personal daemons, but he refused, claiming that there was not enough time in the day for him to enjoy the finer things, while agonizing over the heartbreak he often met.”

Velvet narrowed her eyes and thinned her lips. “Or, he was just making excuses so he could drink, right?”

Grimoire nodded, her smile still large and obvious in her pettiness. “The old fool meant well, but he just could not go without some form of drink or another. It cost him more than he ever realized. Even taking an oath the way he did could not prevent the sadness he inflicted on himself.”

“Well, let’s hope the same doesn’t happen to me. I got a debt that I need to settle,” Velvet knelt down and let the Normin hop up on her shoulder. “Where to?”

“The Yvolg Ruins. I have a residence near there.” she said simply, which made Velvet stop and gawk. 

“Are you serious? We need to charter a ship to get to Cadnix!” 

“Not quite. Head to the outskirts of town. I know a shortcut.”

Velvet was not so confident. “Whatever you say.”

*

It had been three days since they came to Grimoire’s additional estate, which, to her surprise, was not located in the Ruins, but on the peaks of the Brigid Ravines. It was also so well hidden, she could not understand how Grimoire was able to get there and back so easily, save for those vague ‘shortcuts’ Normin used to get around. 

It was a modest mansion that overlooked the ocean, somehow dug into the rock of the mountain with more than enough odds and ends for anyone to live there for quite a while without the need to head to Cadnix for supplies. 

It was also a house for some of Grimoire’s favored trinkets. 

One of which Velvet, in a rage, threw against the wall. 

“HE LIED TO ME!” Velvet shouted. 

Grimoire was clearly displeased, however, she kept her calm as Velvet, out of her uniform and into a gown meant for rest, stomp around the study. 

“THAT TWO-FACED, LYING, BACK-STABBING SON OF A BITCH!” she kicked over a book stand, which sent a collection of linguistics books that had been thought lost for a few thousand years, everywhere. 

Grimoire said nothing. She knew this was not going to be an easy time to get to the root of what truly bothered Velvet. 

Velvet growled and raked her hands over her face before she went over to the window and leaned her forearms against it. 

“Quite an awful thing to say about your brother,” Grimoire noted serenely, in contrast to Velvet’s rampage. 

“Brother? What brother? I have no brother! If I had a brother, he wouldn’t have kept the fact he was dying from me! If I had a brother, he wouldn’t have kept me in the dark about wanting to be a sacrifice for a god that’s trying to kill us all!” she snarled as she fought the temptation to punch the window open. 

“Hmm,” Grimoire acknowledged Velvet’s statement, “It is true that the results are less than ideal for what he wanted.”

“You think?!” Velvet whirled around, “I know what he said. I know what the Earthpulse showed me. It showed him keeping secrets from me! ME! His own sister! How could he?!”

“What would you had done, had he told you everything?” Grimoire asked as she took down a mental note about the Earthpulse. 

“I sure would as not just stood idly by and let Artorious stab him like a pig and toss him into the pit! I would have looked for a cure. A treatment. Anything.”

“And what if you didn’t find something? What if he decided to simply waste away with what little time he had left?”

Velvet gripped the sides of one of the few unturned desks in the room. “I… I don’t know.”

The Normin sighed. This was not going to be easy, but then again, it never was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A common thing in popular media should be the proper treatment of mental trauma and dysfunction. 
> 
> But, alas, there's too much talking, too much introspection, and not enough killing for the gamer audience, sadly. 
> 
> And, let's be real, dealing with mental troubles is not as easy as physical troubles. 
> 
> Good thing Grimoire's up to the task, eh?!


	10. Chapter 10

Days blended into one another. It was difficult to determine whether Grimoire’s experience in this matter could be applicable to Velvet’s personal situation. Thankfully, getting to the root of the problem was not as difficult as she had initially assumed.

Getting to the solution, however, was another story. 

The first week certainly left a lot of wrecked trinkets, destroyed bookcases, and debris that would otherwise not have been there. 

Grimoire was not surprised at how well she took to the shock and anger. She almost missed the depressive episode. One could have easily mistook it for anger. 

When Grimoire felt that progress was stunted, Velvet padded in one morning, exhausted and quiet. 

Not defeated. More resigned, she thought. 

“I think I know what it is,” Velvet began before her brow furrowed, ”I think.”

“Oh? What?”

“What’s been bothering me about all this. Though, I doubt it's just one thing.”

“It is rarely one thing that vexes us, however, there can be one particular sore spot that is interconnected with other aspects that, if solved, can aid in recovery.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“There is no guarantee that it will solve your problems, though. It's part of a process that will take more time than we have. If we survive this ordeal with Innominat, that is.”

Velvet hummed. She was so determined to kill Artorius or die trying she half expected to die. Now, she was not so sure. 

“So then,” Grimoire asked, “what is this epiphany you have?”

Velvet was quiet a moment before she took a deep breath. 

"I don't know what I want,” Velvet admitted, "no, what I wanted.”

She nodded. "From what you've told me, it seems that you did not have much of a childhood. And with the loss of your parents and older sister, you had to assume the role of both sister and parents for your brother."

Velvet nodded. "The only memory I have was wanting to be a Hunter like my mom and dad were. My parents often told me stories of the beasts that they hunted when they were younger and when they met."

"Sounds romantic," she answered with a smirk. 

Velvet shrugged. "Since most of my youth was used up in taking care of my brother, I didn’t have much time for myself. Now, I am starting to wonder if he started to resent me because I had to."

"It's possible, however, we have to determine from what we know the reason why he decided to keep such vital information from you in the first place."

The air was heavy as Velvet looked into the window to the outside. The clouds were broken in the light rain through the cracks, however there was not much else for her to see other than the ocean.

She looked down to her hands with her fingers intertwined and slowly closed her eyes. "I think I know. Though, I don't think I want to entertain the idea that it's the truth; he didn't trust me."

"What makes you say that?"

"I was so determined to see him get better, that I did not stop to ask him how he felt or what he wanted. And that intent, I think, is the reason why he did not say anything."

"That seems likely."

Velvet sighed. "Now that I think about it, I think that I was actually resentful of him, even though I loved him.”

“Because you spent your life taking care of him instead of following your own dreams?"

"Yeah. I didn't want to lose mom and dad. I didn't want to lose Celica. I didn't want to be his mom. I wanted to be his sister. At the same time, I wanted to be my own person. I wanted to leave our home and go to places that we heard about through other travelers. But, with everything that's happened, I'm not sure I know what I want anymore.”

“If it makes you feel any better, many people go throughout their lives asking themselves the same thing."

"I'm not so sure it does."

"So, now with things as they are, what will you do?”

Velvet thought long and hard. She closed her eyes and fiddled her fingers for a long moment. It wasn't until she let loose a long sigh before she looked up to her and answered, "I will have my revenge. I will end this. I'm going to finish this and just let it go."

“And your brother?"

"My brother is dead. And so is the rest of my family. Even though my brother meant well, his intentions caused me nothing but pain. His intentions cost me my arm, three years of my life, and any hope for a future of my own. And that’s why I can’t forgive him."

Grimoire nodded. "Do you feel that you can do it? Murder the image of your younger brother and your brother-in-law? "

Grimly, velvet nodded. "Yes. Both of them have wronged me. And they have shown no remorse for what they have done. It was either this or simply let them kill me, which is not an option.”

Grimoire said nothing. 

“Is it really that bad I want justice for the wrongs they did to me?”

She shook her head. “Not at all. Just know that if you survive this, you will be known by the populace as the woman who killed the Shepard.”

Velvet’s eyes steeled as she looked to the sunlight that broke through the clouds. 

“That won't be my problem. They want a savior from Malevolence, they're going to have to find someone that's not trying to kill us all.”

The answer seemed to satisfy Grimoire as she hopped off of her chair and walk towards the desk with the sylphjay on it. She completed a short missive and attached it to the bird and whispered in its ear where she wanted it to go. Like always, it flew around the room and out of a small tunnel meant for it and outside. 

“What was that about?” Velvet watched the bird fly out of sight. 

“I am letting the Van Eltia know that your condition has improved to the point where I feel that you are ready to rejoin them,” she hopped off the desk and adjusted her hat, “though, I would like to accompany you just to make sure a relapse doesn’t happen.”

“Doesn’t sound like I’ve gotten that much better if you need to stay with me,” Velvet countered with a cocked eyebrow. 

Grimoire shook her head. “To the contrary; the fact that I consider you well enough to continue shows how ready I think you are. Though, we are far from done. Again; this will take some time for us to remedy completely. What you went through cannot be treated with a gel and a pat on the head.”

Velvet snickered, clearly amused, “I figured as much. I’ll get ready.”

*

“It’s a start,” Ceres observed as Velvet sat on the slopes of Taliesin, devoid of people as it were in Velvet’s dreamscape. 

“Will I ever be better, though?” Velvet mused as she idly picked up a pebble and tossed it into the water. 

Ceres could not answer. Even if she could, the chances of it being the right one was small. However, she did have an answer. 

“Perhaps, being ‘better’ will come in a form you don’t expect,” she offered. 

Velvet hummed. “Either way, I’ll never be able to take back what was mine.”

“Unlikely, however, you will be able to take back your life.”

“What’s left of it, at any rate,” she scowled and folded her arms, “and what about you? Will you be around to pester me for the rest of my life?”

Ceres shrugged before she turned to Velvet and smiled. “Who knows? What I do know, however, is that I am, and always was, proud of you.”

The statement gave Velvet pause as she let her arms hang at her sides before she looked to the ground. After a moment’s hesitation, she walked over and took Ceres’ hand. She wanted to embrace her the way she embraced Celica, however, this wasn’t Celica. And she wasn’t the Velvet that embraced people the way she did when she was younger. 

She squeezed Ceres’ hand as affectionately as she could and whispered meekly, “thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the lateness of the chapter; real life stress happens. Still working on this. Still gonna finish this. And dag nabit, it'll be good!
> 
> Also, yes, Velvet's reasons for not forgiving OG Laphicet are why I can't forgive him.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Foreword is forewarned;  
> Lots of awkward sexy times and bad jokes.

Meirchio.

Velvet had a chance to speak with Laphciet after taking a bath in the hot springs. And while it was ultimately productive, it also revealed some of her more unsettling fears.

A part of her dared to hope that Laphicet’s Silver Flame could somehow undo the damage she had wrought, and maybe even restore her humanity.

It was too good to be true, she mused as she watched the snow fall from her room.

A knock on her door caused her to turn as she heard Eleanor’s voice on the other side.

“May I come in?”

“Sure,” Velvet answered as she turned back to the window.

Eleanor opened and closed the door behind her with her usual caution.

That was one of the things she liked about the errant exorcist. While not always tactful, she could tread lightly when she needed to.

She took a seat beside Velvet as she watched the snow fall.

“I’m sorry for eavesdropping on you and Laphicet earlier,” Eleanor whispered, “I should have left well enough alone.”

“It’s alright,” Velvet countered and took Eleanor’s hand, “I was going to bring it up with you anyway. Wanted to hear what you thought.”

Eleanor smiled a bit as she let her fingers intertwine with Velvet’s. “Well, considering Laphicet has discovered this power on his own and is learning to master it, I would certainly hope that he would make good use of it.”

“And me?”

The question caught Eleanor off guard. “Come again?”

“You think it can turn me back to normal?” Velvet asked with a wry smirk.

Eleanor furrowed her brow. “Well, were it I, I would as soon as I could.”

“Laphicet said it might be able to turn me back, however,” Velvet’s gaze grew languid as she looked down, “to become human again was never something I gave thought to. I’ve more or less made peace with the fact that I’ll never be able to taste food again, I’ll never be able to feel the cold the way I used to, I’ll never be able to do anything that I used to love and take for granted when I used to be human.”

Eleanor scooted herself closer to Velvet. “And now?”

Velvet looked to her as she tried to sort out how she felt. “I don’t know whether to be excited, or frustrated, or anything anymore. Do I even deserve to be human again? Do I even want to be human again? I might lose all the power I’ve gained in this quest of revenge and if that happens, what’s left of me?”

Velvet looked to the ground again, unsure where her thoughts took her.

She was broken from them when Eleanor stood up in front of her, then gently eased Velvet to her feet.

Eleanor smiled at her. A genuine, kind, and loving smile she had not seen from many these days. It was one of the few things she could see in the low light of her room.

“Velvet, you have lost so much. Too much,” she took Velvet’s hand, their fingers still intertwined, and brought it between them as she drew closer, “despite all that, you were there for me. You saved me from succumbing to my own despair. You saved me when I lost everything and declared myself dead to the world*. When I first heard of you, I thought you the kind of monster that parents warned their children of,” she drew even closer and even had the audacity to gently take Velvet’s hip with her other hand, “but I’ve since learned that is not true at all.”

She could feel Eleanor fight against the shaking in her torso and could even hear her heart beat faster. “What am I, then?” she asked wryly as she did the same with her other free hand and drew the exorcist against her.

Eleanor smiled. “A friend. And a lover too.”

Velvet chuckled for a moment, then she started to laugh and place her head on Eleanor’s shoulder to keep it in.

She let go of Eleanor’s hand and wrapped both of her arms around Eleanor’s waist.

“That’s the first time in so long someone’s called me that,” she whimpered into Eleanor’s leather jacket, “it feels nice.”

Eleanor leaned her own head against Velvet’s for a moment before she took a step back. “Want to know what else feels nice?”

“What would that be?” Velvet asked, curious.

Eleanor then got up on her toes and kissed her. Once, twice, and on the third, she threw her arms over Velvet’s shoulders.

“How’s that?”

Velvet smirked. “It was nice… but,” she started before Eleanor rolled her eyes.

“I admit, I’m not good at it. Magilou told me the same thing. I’m doing my best, here,” she protested before Velvet interrupted her with a kiss of her own.

When they parted, Velvet continued to smile and turned them around. “You are getting better though.”

“That’s a relief,” Eleanor said before she whispered, “lay down, please. I got something else I think I’m a bit more experienced with.”

“Oh?” Velvet did as she was asked and crossed her exposed legs under the night shirt she wore, “is this the part where you confess about your dark and dirty past in Lothringen?”

Eleanor chuckled as she removed her gloves before she crawled over Velvet to kiss her briefly. “Dark? Hardly. Dirty? Well, can’t really deny that.”

The confession caused Velvet to cock an eyebrow. “Serious?”

Eleanor nodded as her hand started to caress Velvet’s taut stomach. “Quite serious,” she slid her hand up and down a few times before she drew up the hem of Velvet’s gown, with a single finger drawing up Velvet’s thigh, “while male and female exorcists weren’t allowed to fraternize during training, they said nothing about those of us who preferred the company of fellow members of the sororities or fraternities.”

Velvet gasped lightly as she felt Eleanor’s finger slowly draw up to the edge of her hips before it moved between her legs. “I’m surprised that it never occurred to them.”

Eleanor smiled as she used her index finger to slowly glide up the edge of Velvet’s undergarments. “Well, so long as there were no unplanned pregnancies in Lothringen, the Abbey Legates didn’t care. They were too busy cozying up to Midgand Royalty to know that the Fraternities failed to get at the Sororities and the latter was perfectly happy with that.”

Velvet gripped the edge of the bed sheets as Eleanor’s hand stroked slowly and she asked, agonized, “and what about you? Did you have relations while in training?”

Eleanor paused a moment and smiled fondly. “Yes; there was a woman, a year older than me, that caught my eye. Or, to be more accurate, I caught her eye. I just barely turned twenty. I was falling behind in everything. She saved me. She was beautiful. She was the first to expose me to… this,” she answered before she continued rubbing her index finger and thumb over the cotton covering Velvet’s erogenous area.

Velvet chuckled as she fought for breath and the heat building up in her stomach. “So, she took you under her wing and made a repressed deviant out of you.”

Eleanor snorted as she casually drew her finger up, slid underneath Velvet’s garments and began to swirl her finger around the collection of nerves that made Velvet shiver. “I wouldn’t have put it so bluntly, but yes. She and I were close. She helped me get my act together and thanks to her I started to excel. Especially in this,” she moved her index finger even slower and Velvet sputtered at Eleanor’s teasing.

“AH! FINISH ME ALREADY!” Velvet growled as she jutted her hips upward to get more of Eleanor’s touch to bring her to that elusive edge.

Eleanor was caught off guard a moment, but got her composure back before she whispered, “patience, Velvet. It’s one of the things my, uh, ‘mentor’ emphasized to me whenever we did it. While I do admit that my times with Magilou was certainly exciting, she, like you, go too quickly.”

“Damn right!” Velvet shot back as she gripped the blankets hard enough to tear holes in them.

“While there is certainly something to be said for the way you and Magilou do it, you have to admit,” Eleanor’s fingers came to a stop, “the delay certainly does make the end result more… worth the wait, doesn’t it?”

Velvet began to garble, desperate for anything, even with her hands right there, it wouldn’t have been the same. “Why me?”

“Shh,” Eleanor whispered as she then leaned down, on the bed next to Velvet, and smiled, “do you trust me, Velvet?”

Once more, Velvet paused, caught off guard by how candid Eleanor could be.

Despite the sweat that shone on her forehead, she then nodded. “I trust you, Eleanor. It wasn’t easy, but I do. You’ve been there for me when I needed you too.”

Eleanor’s bright smile returned. “Good.” Velvet used her hands to embrace Eleanor, kiss her intensely, and hold her tight as the latter finally resumed her attention on Velvet’s lower body.

When the climax finally hit, Velvet let go and panted loudly as her body shivered from her head to her feet. She grunted loudly as her toes, fingers, and back curled to let the feeling last as long as she could. Her nightgown was soaked with perspiration and Eleanor’s hand left a noticeable trail when she pulled her hand out and up to Velvet’s stomach.

“How was that?” Eleanor asked, proud of her work.

Velvet frowned for a moment before she reached down, threw her gown off, then she stood over Eleanor with a large frown.

“It was fantastic! And it makes me angry!” she said with her hands on her hips, nevermind her state of undress.

Confused, Eleanor tilted her head, slightly scared of Velvet’s posturing, “What? Why?”

She then landed on her hands and knees, loomed over Eleanor as she growled in her face, the heat from her skin made Eleanor’s own heartbeat accelerate.

“Because now I have to live up to some fucking standards!”

Eleanor squealed happily as Velvet helped her remove her trousers and the bloomers underneath. It would have been more accurate to say she helped yank them off, but Eleanor wasn’t one to split hairs.

It would have been easy to remove the clothes from her torso, but when Velvet dove into her now exposed nethers, with a deathgrip on her thighs, Eleanor found herself at a loss.

While Velvet was certainly one to get to the point, the growls that rumbled from the back of her throat, which showcased either her desire or irritation or both, made Eleanor grasp the headboard and pant just as loudly.

There came a point where Eleanor had little choice but to wrap her legs around Velvet’s head as the latter seemed not at all content to simply tease the quivering flesh at Eleanor’s core.

“Velvet, is this… is this what usually happens with Magilou?” she asked as sweat slowly began to bead on her forehead and seep into her face.

“Sometimes… when we don’t break the bed… or the walls, or leave the room a wreck,” Velvet looked up a moment to state bluntly before she returned to her previous activity.

Eleanor snickered, amid fevered gasp, “that’s odd. When I first joined you, all I heard from your room was ‘Ack! My hair!’. From which one of you, I can’t recall.”

Velvet looked up again, slightly annoyed, “it alternates between us. Just imagine how much of a mess it makes when our hair is undone. We’ve both gotten tangled in the others’ hair more times than I am willing to admit.”

Eleanor then laughed before she arched her back from the attention Velvet’s tongue lavished on her entrance.

Velvet knew she had the errant exorcist where she wanted her when the latter closed her eyes and moaned at last. Like Velvet, she shivered in delight and after a momentary squeeze of Velvet’s head, her entire body went slack.

“I’ll bet your mentor was pretty pleased with hearing that,” a smirk drew on her lips before she finally gave Eleanor what she hoped for.

Velvet helped Eleanor removed the now soaked undershirt and jacket to allow them some time to cool and to allow Eleanor to enclose her arms around Velvet from the side.

“She was,” Eleanor admitted wistfully, “those were good times for us.”

That got Velvet curious. “What happened, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Eleanor snuggled closer and whispered with a noticeable melancholy, “well, you have to understand that at that point, I was still wondering if I should become a nun or not. If I did, I would have been concerned with keeping the archives and libraries up to date and everything. My mentor… Latasha, she had greater aspirations and encouraged me to do the same. Also, even if it was a decade after the fact, the loss of my family still stung hard. It made it… difficult for us both,” she looked downcast, “in the end, I was too needy and wanted her to make the decisions for me. She knew better, but there was a point where it was abundantly clear it wasn’t going to work anymore. And so, we parted ways.”

Velvet was at a loss, but with her arm around Eleanor’s shoulders, she pulled her close and whispered back, “I’m sorry.”

Eleanor sighed dreamily as she let her eyes close. “Don’t be. It was necessary for me to understand that I needed to do what I did for myself and no one else,” she opened her eyes and beamed happily to Velvet, “and it ultimately led me to you and Magilou. So, in the grand scheme of things, I’m glad I met her. She’s also been my primary informant from the Abbey.”

Velvet leaned over and kissed Eleanor on the forehead. “I’m glad you did too. You’ve come a long way from the first day we met.”

Eleanor chuckled as exhaustion slowly took her. “Even if I’m still the crybaby exorcist you fought against at Hellaweves?”

“I think you’ve gotten better since then.”

One of Eleanor’s hands reached over and took Velvet’s bandaged hand and she whispered, “thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Eleanor and Velvet are in their mid twenties. Adventure is not just the purview of the young.
> 
> *A scene that will be elaborated on in the rewrite of Stranger than Fiction.


	12. Chapter 12

For the first time since she had been changed, Velvet awoke by means other than her dreamscape discussions with Seres.

It was still dark outside. The sound of the sea was muffled through the window. They still had yet to make it to port due to bad weather. However, they would make it and they would march through the disoriented Midgand and Abbey forces to infiltrate the Throne of the Empyreans once more.

The difference was Velvet had no intention of failing like the last time.

She pulled herself up and out of the embrace of both Eleanor and Magilou and pushed herself to the edge of the bed.

When her feet touched the cold wooden floor, she bent over and leaned on her knees with her arms as unwelcome thoughts churned in her head.

“Velcakes,” Magilou whispered as she crawled to Velvet’s side, “something’s bothering you, isn’t it?”

Velvet nodded. “How’d you guess?”

Magilou smirked. “I would imagine that clumsy, awkward intimacy with your girlfriends would have been enough to keep the impending battle within perspective.”

Velvet leveled her eyes. “I don’t know, nor do I want to know, how that works, but what I will say is that something has been bothering me.”

“What’s that?”

“Remember the Heavenly Steppes?”

Magilou rolled her eyes. “I wish I couldn’t, but go on.”

“What Zao Fu said, about the Seraphim, I mean,” Velvet looked down to her thumbs, “if she was telling the truth, then this whole ordeal with the Malevolence is their fault. They cursed the Malakhim and us.”

Magilou’s brow furrowed as she recalled the conversations near the Heavenly Gate. “Yes. That sounds about right.”

“I know I’m opening myself up here, but why didn’t we just storm the Heavenly Realm and make them undo the curse? It would stop Innominat dead in his tracks, the daemonblight wouldn’t affect anyone else, and we wouldn’t have to worry about the Malevolence building up all the damn time?”

“Well, for one,” Magilou raised an index finger, “from what I could sense, the gate is not just a door you can swing open. No doubt the Seraphim made sure that no one else would be able to enter unless they willed it. Two; and our efforts, despite our combined powers, would most likely do little to break the door open. And even if we could, our chances to convince the Seraphim to undo the curse would be a crapshoot. And three; given how high and mighty they sound, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were watching us now, laughing at our short, bleak, and meaningless lives.”

Velvet huffed. “You really know how to boost morale, don’t you?”

Magilou’s smirk grew. “That’s why I’m not the leader.”

She let the conversation settle in before she sighed and closed her eyes. “If we do survive this, I want to go to the Heavenly Realm. And do whatever it takes to remove the curse of Malevolence.”

“Oh? That’s uncharacteristically kind of you,” Magilou raised an eyebrow as she leaned on Velvet’s shoulder.

“Seems that way, doesn’t it?” Velvet answered solemnly, “the thing is, I’m not doing it for this world. I never was and never will. This world turned my family against me. This world turned against me, elevated the man who ruined my life to the role of a savior, and frankly, I don’t give a fuck what the people of this world think.”

Magilou was ponderous for a moment before she whispered, “I sense a ‘but’ in there.”

Velvet nodded. “I’m doing this for me. If I remain a therion, then so be it. If I end up dying after the curse is undone, so be it.”

Magilou frowned. “Don’t you start talking like that. Only heroes talk like that and you, Velvet Crowe, are no hero. I hate heroes because heroes die for silly reasons, just like villains die for stupid reasons.”

She smirked in response. “Like revenge?”

“Fair enough, then I alter my statement; you, Velvet Crowe, are neither hero nor villain. Your actions have been both, yes, however, there is far too much going on beneath the surface to simply paint you as one or the other,” Magilou then snorted and looked to the window in disgust, “the old man thought like that. Good and evil. Pure and corrupted. The world is not, and never has been, that simple. The abstract becomes muddled when the individual, capable of both are brought into the equation and to judge them sorely upon the ideal instead of the individual makes it so repulsive to me.”

Velvet chuckled lightly before she took Magilou’s hand in her own. “Don’t you start getting sentimental on me, Hatty.”

Magilou pouted. “What did I say about nicknames? Especially that one?”

She wrapped her arm around Magilou’s waist and held her close. “Don’t remember. Probably wasn’t important.”

Magilou sighed dramatically before she embraced her. “You vex and infuriate me so, Velvet Crowe.”

Velvet’s smirk returned before she lifted Magilou to sit on her lap, with her legs straddled Velvet’s waist. “You love it. Admit it.”

Magilou answered with a kiss on Velvet’s forehead, nose, then lips. “Damn right.”

*

Was it revenge?

Was it justice?

Velvet couldn’t tell as tears made her vision blurry and Artorious gave his last breath before he lay still.

She loved Arthur Colbrande. He was the brother in law that had taught her so much. He taught her how to survive. He taught her how to think. He taught her how to find the path to accomplish her dreams.

And he had been dead for years.

For the first time, it stung to see the remains of the Arthur she had loved so dearly reduced to a despair laden mess.

Much like her, now that she thought about it.

She was brought out of her thoughts at the wailing of Innominat’s hunger.

The vessel was beginning to crumble.

She looked from the Empyrean to her friends, companions, and lovers.

There was only one choice ahead of her and she didn’t like it.

However, what she knew she had to do was not just for herself, but for the ones she loved.

Like the only source of calm within the growing storm, Velvet unfurled her Therion’s Claw.

“No!” she heard Magilou shout. She wanted to convince Magilou not to worry, but there was no time.

On impulse, Innominat reached up and bit into her reserves of malevolence. It didn’t hurt as much as she thought it would.

She then bit her claw into his back and began to siphon the lifeforce out of him the way he did to her.

“Velvet!” Eleanor shouted as she too struggled to her feet, “what are you doing?!”

“The only thing I can do!” she shouted back, “I’ll be back. I promise!”

“NO!” Magilou shouted even louder as she stumbled with her lack of strength. However, when a sphere of golden light appearerd and encased them both, Velvet saw tears began to flood Magiloui’s eyes, Magilou shouted as her voice began to be blocked out, “YOU BETTER BE BACK, VELVET CROWE! YOU HEAR ME?! OR ELSE, I WILL FIND YOU AND… I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’LL DO! BUT I’LL DO IT!”

  
Golden light encased them both as Velvet felt herself slip into blessed oblivion.

It wasn’t long before she felt herself drawn into a dream.

A dream of happier times.

She saw her brother, his health restored, and his desire to see the world.

She saw herself accompanying him through deep valleys, tall mountains, expansive plains, and dense forests.

They had many adventures together. They met many wonderful people.

It was the most wonderful thing Velvet had ever seen.

And it was all just a dream.

It would have been nice.

However, Velvet knew that the time for dreams was past.

Her family was dead.

Her world was shattered.

And she was now trapped, perhaps for eternity, with a creature that had tried to devour her.

She wanted to keep what little spark of hope she had alive that she would be able to return to Magilou and Eleanor.

However, the situation left her with little recourse.

Perhaps, it was better this way.

 **HUMPH!** She heard a voice, deep and ancient, mutter.

In the dream, she tried to find the source, but quickly realized to whom she was speaking.

**IT NEVER CEASES TO AMAZE ME WHAT A WALKING CONTRADICTION YOU HUMANS ARE.**

The blinding golden light, no doubt Innominat, was omnipresent. It made Velvet realize that she hated being talked down too as she too dispersed her form to a profound darkness to match Innominat’s light. How she did it, she was not sure, however, she had gone through stranger.

_AND IF WE ARE? WHAT OF IT?_

**YOU OFTEN PONTIFICATE OF PEACE, YET GO TO WAR OVER THE SLIGHTEST INFRACTION. YOU DEMAND JUSTICE, YET THE CYCLE OF VIOLENCE NEVER ENDS. YOU EXPECT THE UNIVERSE ITSELF TO ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR EXISTENCE WHEN YOUR WORKS WILL PERISH ALONG WITH YOU.**

_CAN’T REALLY BLAME US. OUR LIVES, SHORT AS THEY ARE, HAVE TO MEAN SOMETHING. AND IF WE FAIL, THEN SO BE IT. BUT AT LEAST WE TRY._

**SOME DON’T.**

_SOME DO._

**I SUPPOSE THAT DOES SPEAK ABOUT WHY YOU STRUGGLE SO HARD, EVEN IF IT MEANS NOTHING IN THE LONG TERM.**

_WHAT’S THE POINT OF YOUR ASKING THIS? SHOULDN’T YOU BE ASLEEP LIKE ME?_

**YES AND NO. WE SLUMBER. AND WE WILL SLUMBER FOR ALL ETERNITY. HOWEVER, I CAN SENSE MY PLACE AMONG THE EMPYREANS HAS BEEN SUPPLANTED BY THE ONE YOU CALL PHI. WHILE A SHORT SIGHTED GESTURE, I CAN UNDERSTAND HIS REASONING FOR IT.**

_PHI WAS ALWAYS A GOOD BOY._

**THAT BEING THE CASE, VELVET CROWE, IT HAS SERVED A PURPOSE I MYSELF HAVE HOPED FOR, FOR MILLENIA.**

_WHAT’S THAT?_

**I AM FINALLY UNNECESSARY. MY DESIGNATION AS THE SUPPRESSOR HAS LEFT ME AMBIVALENT. COUNTLESS CYCLES I HAVE FED AND SLEPT UPON THE MALEVOLENCE OF MAN AND MALAKHIM THAT I ALL THAT I AM HAS BEEN RENDERED TO BE NOTHING MORE THAN A GEAR IN A MACHINE.**

_AND?_

**I AM TIRED, VELVET CROWE. SO MANY CYCLES ENGAGING IN THE SAME POINTLESS EXERCISE OVER AND OVER AND OVER. ALL BECAUSE OF THE SERAPHIM.**

_?!_

**YES, VELVET CROWE, I AM AWARE OF YOUR SOJOURN UP THE HEAVENLY STEPPES AND TO THE GATE. YOU ARE NOT THE FIRST, NOR WILL YOU BE THE LAST. THE HEAVENLY GATE BARRED YOUR WAY TO ENTER XANADU, THE REALM OF THE SERAPHIM.**

_ARE YOU… YOU CAN’T BE SUGGESTING…_

**I AM, VELVET CROWE. WITH WHAT ANGER AND HATRED THAT STILL FESTER IN THAT WRETCHED HEART OF YOURS, I WOULD ASK YOU TO FULFILL MY LAST DESIRE; EXACT VENGEANCE UPON THE SERAPHIM FOR WHAT THEY HAVE DONE UNTO US.**

_AND HOW WOULD I DO THAT? OUR PRESENT SITUATION DOESN’T EXACTLY LEND ITSELF TO THE CHANCE TO GO THERE._

**OF COURSE NOT. THAT IS WHY I ALSO ASK YOU TO END ME. DEVOUR ME WHOLE AND TAKE MY POWER. I CAN ONLY IMAGINE THE CARNAGE ONE POSSESSED OF THE RAGE YOU HAVE COULD COMMIT.**

_SO, YOU GET TO USE ME ONE LAST TIME. IS THAT IT?_

**CONSIDER IT RECOMPENSE FOR THE… GIFTS I BESTOWED UNTO YOU DURING THAT SCARLET NIGHT. IT IS NOT EVERYDAY A MERE THERION BECOMES IMBUED WITH THE POWER OF AN EMPYREAN.**

_I STILL LOATHE AND DESPISE YOU FOR WHAT YOU’VE DONE TO ME AND MY FAMILY._

**AS WELL YOU SHOULD. I WOULD ALSO SUGGEST YOU USE THAT LOATHING AGAINST THE SERAPHIM. AS I HIGHLY DOUBT THEY WOULD STAND IDLY BY AND ALLOW YOUR WORLD TO CONTINUE AS IS WITH ONE SUCH AS YOURSELF RUNNING FREE. NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR IDLENESS, VELVET CROWE. YOUR LOVED ONES MAY PAY A HEAVIER PRICE THAN YOU MAY BE AWARE. YOU EITHER WAIT FOR THE SERAPHIM TO ACT OR YOU TAKE THE FIGHT TO THEM WITH MY POWER.**

_HMPH. IF YOU INSIST. THOUGH, I HAVE ONE QUESTION. WILL KILLING THE SERAPHIM UNDO THE CURSE OF MALEVOLENCE?_

**HARD TO SAY. AFTER ALL, IT WAS THEY WHO CURSED ME WITH AN EVER INSATIABLE HUNGER FOR THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE. THOUGH, I IMAGINE IT WOULD SPEAK TO THEIR ENORMOUS EGO TO TIE IT INTO THEMSELVES.**

_ALRIGHT THEN._

**FAREWELL, VELVET CROWE, MAY YOUR EASILY MISLED KIN UNDERSTAND THE FULL DEPTH OF WHAT HAS HAPPENED SOMEDAY.**

_SOMEHOW, I DOUBT THEY EVER WILL._

**THEIR LOSS I SUPPOSE.**

With that, Velvet felt Innominat’s siphon cut off. Immediately, she woke from the dream, still in the sphere, and clenched her claw into the withering body of Innominat.

The increase of power from the victims of her hunger were to be expected. She would always receive their strength and add it to her own. However, when the last of Innominat’s body faded to nothing, Velvet felt as though she had consumed an expanse of malevolence so potent that she gasp as it spread through her veins.

She screamed in agony as power, greater than she had ever known, almost tore her apart as she forced the sphere out from sky and back to the Heavenly Steppes.

The light of Innominat’s influence quickly dimmed and Velvet felt herself consumed in darkness as the Frenzy took hold once again.

The golden sphere shattered at the entrance to the Heavenly Steppes and a sphere of all consuming darkness emerged. It came to a halt before it slowly began to shrink and Velvet’s therion form appeared from the remains.

Velvet breathed heavily, as she tried to let her new found power settle, yet, paused when she brought her enlarged hand, shaped like a grotesque wolf’s paw, and muttered to herself, her voice distorted by the malevolence she exhumed, “I… I’m in control now.”

The lupine creature Velvet had become reared upon its hind legs and inhaled the heavy ozone of the volcano. When she got her bearings once more, she looked up to the Steppes as recollection of her mission returned, along with the rage that had led her to this in the first place.

She dug her hands into the rock, snarled, hungry for blood, and launched herself into the cave where the entrance to the Steppes lay.

It was all a blur as she sped through caves and then into the cavernous hallways of the temple like Steppes many lost Malakhim once constructed in hopes of returning to Xanadu.

The ‘residents’ of the Steppes, still lost to Malevolence, could do nothing whether they wanted to or not as Velvet rampaged further up the Steppes.

Were it not for her speed, the sheer malevolence she radiated would have left the ornate hallways an even greater mess as she tore into anything unfortunate enough to get in her way.

Soon enough, the gate to Xanadu lay before her as the Malevolence around her faded and her human form was all that remained.

“You!” the familiar voice of Zao Fu cried as it appeared in front of her, “you… you exude corruption! What brings you to this holy place?!”

Velvet frowned. “I got business on the other side of this door. And I’m not in the mood for delays!”

“What?” the seraphim replied in surprise, as Velvet stomped up to the gate, “no one has been able to open it since it was closed! What makes you believe that-”

Velvet, angered at the Seraphim’s bluster, drew her hand back with the therion claw emerging, and with the sheer force of a cataclysm behind her fist, punched the rainbow colored gate with all her might.

When it made contact an equal and opposing force collided with her strike, but Velvet would not be denied, even with the shaking of the room around them and the lighting angrily sprouting from the impact point.

When it seemed like neither force would relent, Velvet’s determination punched through the force field and shattered the rainbow colored gateway as if it were glass.

Both Velvet and Zao Fu recoiled a moment as the shards eventually settled on the ground and the quake stopped.

With nothing to bar her way, Velvet then stood up and strode past the threshold of the gate.

It was time to hunt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So close. So close!


	13. Chapter 13

  
Xanadu, the Realm of the Seraphim, lived up to its name.

Around her were trees made of a material that looked like crystal. However, upon closer inspection, the texture appeared the same as normal trees in her world.

There was a heavy mist around her, but smelled of fresh rain and morning dew. It was nature in its purest form.

Too pure.

She then realized that there were no insects, no animals, no nothing. There was no wind rustling the leaves of the shrubbery. There was no sun in the sky that she could see.

It seemed… fabricated.

Experimentally, she walked over to one of the trees and stroked the bark.

The texture was like a tree’s own, however, there was something off. Everything around her seemed off.

Even the path nearby to who knew where seemed artificial. Regardless, if this was where the Seraphim were, then she had little recourse but to find them. And, despite Innominat’s request, if they could be reasoned with to remove the curse, all the better.

However, her inner cynicism chided her at the possibility that an appeal would do little good.

Still, there was only one path forward and she strode upon it to where she hoped she would find answers.

*

Velvet felt she may have been walking in circles, however, she could clearly see signs of civilization in the distance. However, no matter how fast she ran or how long she walked, it always seemed to be at the same place, no matter what.

She leaned against another fabricated tree and sighed heavily. This wasn’t exactly what she had in mind when she broke through the door.

A light titter brought her out of her thoughts as she whirled around to find the source of the voice.

A bluster of wind began to rustle the trees and foliage, which covered any additional laughter Velvet felt she may have heard.

“Show yourself!” Velvet barked over the breeze.

The laughter continued and increased in volume as she heard not one, but three separate voices approach.

She turned to where the laughter was loudest and stopped in her movement of the sight of the ones who watched her.

They were taller, almost double Velvet’s height if she could gauge it correctly. The white, silk-like robes they wore were exquisite to see, made of material Velvet was pretty sure did not exist back home. The patterns on them were intricate and easily arranged themselves between layers.

The individuals themselves, however, were a far different story. They were gangly, not unlike stick figures. Their skin, though, left Velvet ill at ease more than anything. They were all so pale, their skin almost had a translucent glow about them and if Velvet were close enough, could see the pulsing inner organs and frail looking skeleton beneath!

The one in the middle, lowered herself to the ground with nary a sound before they offered a smile that made Velvet’s skin crawl.

“Please,” it melodically spoke, “do not be afraid.”

“Welcome and try to comprehend,” the one on the right sung with seemingly several voices all at once.

“Um, OK.” Velvet blinked a few times before she could come up with a better answer, “what’s to… comprehend? And who are you?”

The third then approached, a book hovering over her hand, and answered amused, “Oh, you are to us as a micro-organism is to you. Yet, we are gratified that you can understand us, for we have transcended the need for language, for the spoken word is faulty and tainted.”

Velvet blinked again, unsure how to answer. Regardless, she was ready to take a leap. “Are you… the Seraphim?”

The first answered with a nod. “Yes, little one. This is Xanadu; where existence is at its most pure; undiluted with the filth of the lower species. I am Verthundi, and these are Urthur and Skult. And we are the Watchers. We ensure that nothing threatens the balance that we have established to ensure that Xanadu is forever pure.”

Velvet’s eyes leveled. Perhaps Innominat’s contempt for the Seraphim was more than justified than she imagined.

The second one, Urthur, spoke up, “despite your insignificance, you have no cause to be afraid.”

Velvet began to frown. “Why is that?”

“No matter how tainted your species or the fallen ones can be, we have rendered ourselves completely immune to the filth of malevolence,” Verthundi’s appeared disgusted at the mention of Velvet’s kind and the Malakhim, which explained everything Velvet needed to know.

Velvet then realized what Verthundi had said. “Wait, immune to Malevolence? How can that even happen? There’s nowhere to escape it back home.”

Urthur’s gaze went to her nails… what was left of them, as she smoothed out her robes, “of course there isn’t. The fallen and the simple species produce it as much as they breathe air. So natural for animals that easily allow such base natures to consume them so easily.”

Velvet’s frown grew deeper as she clenched her fists. “And yet, it was all your doing. The Curse of Malevolence is what doomed the malakhim and humanity for so long.”

All three of them laughed uproariously. Skult closed her book and let it float beside her. “Naturally. We couldn’t allow the sinful corruption of your kind or the fallen ones to touch our home. It has stood since time immemorial and will stand forevermore. Which is why it is impossible for you to comprehend its greatness and purity.”

Velvet’s voice grew low. “So, I assume that asking you to remove it is not worth the breath to ask.”

Verthundi spat in contempt. “Yes, little one. Now, return to your brief, filthy, and drudge of a life while you can. If you’re fortunate, you’ll be long dead by the time the Seraphim purify the world, since it has become apparent that neither the Fallen ones, nor you, can no longer be trusted with it.”

Velvet’s eyes widened. Innominat was right. His scouring the souls was nothing compared to what the Seraphim wanted to do. Everything would be gone.

Everything.

She looked Verthundi in the eye and growled. “No.”

All three of the Seraphim’s eyes narrowed dangerously as the lilt in Verthundi’s voice began to break with an atonal discord. “You cannot win, little one. We are the pinnacle of purity and existence. You cannot begin to fathom just how far above your ken we are.”

“Well,” Velvet then let Malevolence cover her arms, the claw gone, however, the aura which surrounded them was far more dangerous, “that’s a damn shame. And I was trying to be nice, too.”

All three of the Seraphim reared back, their smiles stretched well past the boundaries of what their anatomy was supposed to allow, and their harmonious voices began to devolve into the same dissonant chuckle as they circled Velvet.

“Struggle all you like, little one,” Urthur taunted, “it will mean nothing in the end. Just everything else you and the fallen ones have tried to accomplish!”

“I have no intention to struggle,” Velvet shot back as she leaped to avoid a sphere of energy thrown by Verthundi and into the branches of a nearby tree.

She quickly hopped to another as she tore off a branch from the artificial tree and tossed it back into the path of another shot.

The resulting explosions caught all of them off guard, but Velvet still had the presence of mind to see Urthur disoriented and out of sight of the others from the resulting smoke.

She would not get another chance like this and so charged forward and with both hands that overflowed with Malevolence, grasped the Seraphim by the neck.

As Velvet began to devour, Urthur screeched in defiance, which hurled Velvet off and away. While she had gotten a sample of it, Velvet knew she needed more time that was not there to defeat three of these creatures at once. She righted herself in midair and swung herself up in the branches once more before she leaped upward to give herself more distance.

Yet, it seemed the Seraphim would not allow her that opportunity as she heard their dissonant roars not far behind as they gave chase.

Velvet growled in frustration. How was she supposed to take them down when, even with Innominat’s power, she was at a disadvantage?

She stretched out her right hand to summon a short blade made from solid malevolence, just like the one Innominat wielded. As effective it would be, she had a feeling the other Seraphim would not be so easily distracted. She needed something, anything, that could give her the moment she needed to gain the upper hand.

The fake foliage brought her thoughts briefly to her foes and then an idea, though a very risky one, came to mind. She didn’t have much to lose nor much choice.

Velvet took the Unquenchable Flame she had been granted from Seres and set several trees around her on fire that quickly spread. To Velvet’s surprise, a blaze spread around them all faster than she would have expected. Perhaps it was the material that the trees were made of that caused them to torch so easily.

All three of the Seraphim screeched once more, disturbed at their home alight, and split up to contain the flame.

It was the perfect distraction Velvet needed as she noted Verthundi had strayed the furthest from the other two and dashed with all her might towards her target.

Through the flames, the Seraphim saw Velvet coming and summoned several nasty looking shards of metal from seemingly nowhere to hurl them at Velvet.

When Velvet got within range, however, she let loose the ugliest sound she could from her throat before she hocked up a rather large dollop of saliva straight into the Seraphim’s face.

Instead of the screech from earlier, Verthundi gargled, recoiled, and toppled over in sheer disgust as she tried to wipe it all off in vain. Without hesitation, Velvet stuck the back into the Seraphim’s side with one hand and with the other, grasped Verthundi’s neck.

Everything Velvet had devoured before had been consumed quickly and without struggle. A Seraphim, it seemed, was a different matter as the more she pulled lifeforce away, the more Verthundi resisted. Yet, it was too late for her as she began to dissolve like all the others.

“No! I am meant to be… beautiful… perfect…” the Seraphim hissed angrily, “puuuuuuure…”

At last, Velvet felt her consumption had reached a tipping point and her devouring of Verthundi was complete as she felt her power increase all the more, even moreso after she had devoured Innominat.

Velvet grunted in pain and held her stomach after she had fallen to her knees. Everything she had devoured before had the familiar metallic taste of blood on it. Seraphim tasted revolting. Like a powerful bleach that pulled back the skin and stung everything it touched. She had to take a moment to breathe and get her bearings back as the flames continued to spread unchecked.

The nausea passed and she got to her feet to see Skult on approach, her face a mask of unbridled rage. This time, however, with Verthundi’s power added to Velvet’s own, she saw the movements, read the aether, and charged to Skult’s surprise. Velvet ducked underneath a razor thin blade that would have cut her asunder and dug both of her hands into the Seraphim’s abdomen and devoured more easily this time.

While the disgusting aftertaste was not as prevalent, Velvet shook briefly regardless. She turned to see Urthur, just as angered as Skult was, however, she had kept her distance.

In a gust of wind, Urthur vanished and Velvet, now with the power of two Seraphim at her disposal, could see her retreating to the structure she had been seen earlier.

Filled with Seraphim like Urthur… and worse.

She gave chase, aware that if Urthur could sound some sort of alarm, then she was done for. As powerful as she was, she couldn’t hope to go against the incredible odds that she would no doubt face.

Sadly, Urthur was far faster and the screech she let loose no doubt had alarmed the rest of the Seraphim in the floating, spherical structure, of Velvet’s presence.

Her fears were confirmed as she heard another yell that came from the structure. It was a collective roar that caused the ground beneath Velvet to shake.

She huffed. “Of course it wouldn’t be this easy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the lack of updates, but with NaNoWriMo up and going, I've got my groove back. 
> 
> So, Xanadu, stately home of Charles Foster Kane. Cost? More than any of us will be able to afford. 
> 
> And no, we won't be seeing Olivia Newton John or Gene Kelly any time soon.


	14. Chapter 14

Velvet didn’t get a chance to consider her next course of action, for no sooner did the rumbling stop did she witness a swarm of white emerge from the construct. The ghastly tumult made the slithering gestalt of Seraphim more horrifying and Velvet knew she had truly erred.

“Run!” she heard Seres’ voice in the back of her head.

While she had no idea how Seres was able to speak to her while she was awake, she was not in a position to argue. She turned and ran.

Louder and louder the screeching became as Velvet dared not look back. If she tried to fight then and there, she’d be overwhelmed easily.

“No,” Seres seemed to answer her worries, “it’s them who should be afraid of you. After all; not only do you have Innominat’s power at your disposal, but now Seraphim as well.”

As she ran down the path from which she came, Velvet realized that Seres was right. Though, if she knew how to actively use the powers she had gained, it would have been nice if she was aware of this sooner. Regardless, her fear faded as she willed her legs to move faster. And faster she went.

Her surroundings soon became a blur as shadows spread over her body. Then, immediately, her Frenzy broke out as her pace increased even more. She cut through the air with all the deftness of a blade as she considered that in the open was not the ideal place to hunt her foes.

She turned wide and back towards the spherical structure while dodging both projectile and melee attack from the Seraphim that had attempted to rush her. Every attempt to hit her failed as she weaved through them with all the ease of a river flowing through the most jagged of rocks.

Soon enough, she left her pursuers behind and at incredible speeds, crashed her way into the Seraphim’s domicile, through the crystalline outer shell. Like the exterior, the interior was made of an artificial alabaster material that seemed consistent with how sterile everything the Seraphim represented. Everywhere she turned as she sped into the heart of the structure, she saw pictures, statues, and installations that seemed to only portray the Seraphim as sublime.

Velvet, on the other hand, was ready to change that as the Seraphim, still in a single minded rage, piled in after her through crevices Velvet did not have time to notice.

Up corridors and stairs Velvet dashed on all fours until she found an environment that would suit her best. And there in the center of the structure, a large, pulsing sphere of white and blue energy that Velvet felt a distinct familiarity to.

It was the same sensation after she had devoured Verthundi and Skult. The same sickening nausea that was supposed to purify, but left her disgusted instead.

“Benevolence,” she heard Seres whisper in shock, “among the Malakhim, it was only a rumor. An element that could completely nullify Malevolence.”

“And everything else. This was how Innominat scoured the world so many times before, remember?” Velvet answered her, not entirely sure if she had replied at all.

“Yes. And judging it’s growth, I would imagine they would plan to use it on our home. Only, without Innominat to devour Malevolence, there will most likely be nothing left.”

Velvet slashed into a trio of Seraphim that had almost tackled her and immediately added their power and lifeforce to her own.

“I didn’t come here to let a bunch of self-important pricks play god!” Velvet snarled as she spun with both arms extended and devoured another half dozen Seraphim.

With a roar, Velvet shot out a wave of kinetic force to give her some room and accelerated beyond the Seraphim’s sight. Faster and faster she flew through the air, until she had left a trail of Malevolence that began to form a sphere around them all.

“NO MERCY!” Velvet shouted over the screech of the Seraphim as the form of her Frenzy vanished.

“The Law of Calamity is final!” she landed near the sphere of Benevolence and raised her hands to the sky to summon a vortex between her hands.

“Nothing is forever!” the black hole began to swirl and inflate rapidly.

“As such; your time has come!” the Seraphim attempted to flee, but the gravity had a firmer grip as the vortex pulled them all into the darkness.

“Embrace oblivion!” larger and larger the sphere grew until it consumed the structure, along with the Core of Benevolence.

“DENIAL DIVINE!” angry black lightning crackled around the surface of the sphere before it suddenly imploded. Then with both Malevolence and Benevolence in equal measure in conflict, there resulting explosion left the artificial countryside in complete and utter desolation.

At the epicenter, all that remained, aside from piles of dust, was a sphere of black and white chaotic energies that slowly hovered over the ground before it began to crack. When the last of the shards fell to the ground and dissolved, Velvet, curled into a ball, slowly stirred. She extended her legs and hovered over the ground.

Gone was her old uniform and in its place, Velvet’s body was encased in a second skin of black colored aether that left nothing but her head exposed. She looked down to her hands as her hair unfurled to hover behind her as if she were under water. Red lines gave off a powerful glow as they traversed from her hands and up through her body. She clenched them into fists as she realized what had happened.

She had completely consumed the Seraphim and the Core of Benevolence. The result had left her more than a Therion, more than an Empyrean. Her eyes flashed white briefly before she exhaled in relief and satisfaction. The power she felt course through her veins was beyond description.

Furthermore, the appetite that had hounded her ever since she had first changed was gone.

She was satiated.

Yet, that left her with some tempting ideas born of curiosity.

With her newly gained power at her disposal, she could devour anything…

Her eyes widened at the prospect.

She imagined the possibilities; she could devour more than just mere individuals. She could devour lands… no, worlds. Stars. More.

She could devour everything.

“Velvet!” Seres spoke from within to break her from her thoughts.

She then stumbled and fell to the ground unceremoniously.

“What happened?” a specter of Seres, much like at the Earthpulse, hovered beside her, just as confused at her ability to speak to Velvet at the moment.

“I think,” Velvet began as she pushed herself to her feet, “I think we won.”

“And you?” Seres would have offered a hand, were she tangible.

“I’m,” Velvet held up her hand and felt the powerful magics at her command weave between her fingers, “not entirely sure.”

Seres would have continued to press had there not been a loud rumbling.

“Damn, don’t I even get a moment to breathe?!” Velvet grunted as she stood up and ran the only direction she could run; to the Seraphic Gate.

Seres turned to see the crater where the Seraphim once lived crumble in on itself and in its place a void began to swallow the ground around it.

“Any idea on what happened?” Velvet shouted as she pushed herself to outrun the crumbling earth behind her.

“I believe without the Seraphim and the Benevolence, Xanadu can’t hold itself together anymore. It seems this was never a natural place, but created by the Seraphim to segregate themselves from everyone else,” Seres mused aloud as Velvet dashed through what remained of the land.

“That’s nice and all, but I’m not in any mood to stick around and see what happens next!”

“Make haste, then!” Seres snapped back as an earthquake roared around them and toppled over everything in sight.

As Velvet kept herself just barely ahead of the destruction of Xanadu, she saw the gate she had entered in not too long ago right ahead.

“Velvet!” she heard Magilou’s voice from the other side of the threshold. It was a sight and sound for sore eyes and ears. However, the ground beneath her began to give way as Magilou sped in on her geoboard.

“Hold on!” Magilou shouted as she willed the board to go faster, though Velvet wondered if she had the chance to get them both out faster, she wasn’t going to complain as she held onto the witch tightly.

The distance from the gate was only a stone’s throw away before the ground underneath them both dissolved. Before Magilou could let loose another string of curses, Velvet wrapped her arm around her waist and leaped off the geoboard.

Even with the additional momentum, it wasn’t enough. Until Velvet reached out and latched herself onto the frame of the Heavenly Gate. Immediately, Rokurou, Eizen, and Eleanor reached over and pulled the two of them past the threshold. Rokurou and Eleanor yanked Velvet back while Eizen summoned a grip of chains of light and pulled Magilou in at the same time.

After all five of them hit the ground, they turned to see the gate begin to shake, then distort, and finally crumble in on itself. Smaller and smaller it became until it completely vanished.

Velvet would have continued staring had Magilou not grabbed her head, turn it to her and kissed her, full on the lips. Then she kissed her again. And again.

“Hey!” Velvet protested, while certainly she didn’t mind in other circumstances, there was a time and a place for such displays.

“Sorry,” Magilou sniffed with a relieved smile on her face, “I’m just glad you’re back.”

The irritation in Velvet’s face faded and a smile of her own appeared as she looked to both Magilou and Eleanor. “I missed you both.”

Magilou sniffed again and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Me too. And I’m not even trying to audition for anything.”

Velvet and Eleanor started to chuckle until they were interrupted by a long sigh above them.

“So, it is gone,” Zui Fuu muttered sadly. “The Heavenly Realm is no more.”

“Trust me,” Velvet wheezed for breath and shook her head, “you didn’t want to go back. Not after what happened to it.”

They were about to ask when Velvet pushed herself to her feet. “But not here. I’ve had my fill of Celestial creatures, monstrosities, and gods for a lifetime!”

Zui Fuu seemed to shrug, if a rappig could, before she started to follow them out of the Steppes. “Very well.”


	15. Chapter 15

“And that’s  what happened,” Velvet finished, now in a repaired version of the uniform she once wore. She sat against one of the pillars near the entrance to the Throne of the Empyreans, with everyone who had shared in the adventure they had completed not too long ago.  
  
Everyone, Laphicet included, were silent as they mulled over her words.  
  
“So,” Eizen began, “it wasn't enough for them to curse us all with Malevolence, but they were going to kill us all with Benevolence.”  
  
“I can confirm that the latter always existed, but for the Seraphim to actually collect it for the purpose of scouring the world is horrifying,” Zui Fuu added as she sat upon Eizen’s shoulder.  
  
“Is it really surprising?” Magilou, snuggled against Velvet, frowned, “it made perfect sense for them to keep us lowly mortals as far away from them as possible. Just like it made perfect sense for the Abbey to try and invoke Innominat to create their own twisted utopia.”  
  
Zui Fuu appeared despondent. “So, it was all a falsehood. For so long, we all desired to return to Xanadu because we thought it our homeland.”  
  
“Perhaps its a sign that all of us are not so different as we think,” Rokurou offered with his arms crossed, “after all, what happened with my clan and I is not as far fetched after what the Seraphim did.”  
  
Magilou cocked an eyebrow, “that’s surprisingly insightful of you.”  
  
The swordsman puffed out his chest and smirked. “I have my moments.”  
  
“The question remains,” Eizen interjected with leveled eyes, “were you able to undo the Curse of Malevolence?”  
  
Velvet was silent as all eyes turned to her.  
  
“I don’t know,” she answered after a moment’s thought, “I couldn’t tell if they were ever the source of it or I needed them to undo it in the first place.  Everything happened faster than I would have liked.”  
  
Eleanor looked to her side where Laphicet’s astral projection stood, “Can you feel any change?”  
  
The new Empyrean looked up to her and shook his head. “No. As far as I can tell, it’s still here.”  
  
Velvet’s gaze became downtrodden. “Hmm. It wouldn’t surprise me if all this were for nothing.”  
  
“Not necessarily,” Zui Fuu answered, “not all curses run in perpetuity. Without the Seraphim to maintain the existence of the curse, there is the real chance that it will eventually fade away.”  
  
Eizen folded his arms and frowned. “Perhaps, but how long will that take? How many more generations of malak and humans will pass before the Seraphim’s meddling finally stops?”  
  
Velvet finally spoke up, “that’s what I’m going to find out. I don’t know exactly how, but after I devoured both the Seraphim and the Benevolence, I’ve changed. I’m no longer hungry, but I’m no longer in a state where I can say whether I am human, therion, or not. However, I can feel the malevolence still permeated in the air.”  
  
No one spoke, since none of them exactly had an answer for her statement in the first place.  
  
“Well, for what it’s worth,” Laphicet stated as he walked up to Velvet, “I’m glad you’re back.”  
  
Velvet’s smile returned as she reached forward and took his hand gingerly. “Me too.”  
  
*  
  
“While I would have thought you not the type to keep secrets, Velcakes,” Magilou noted as she, Velvet, and Eleanor made their way to the port, “I would be a liar after knowing you as well as I do. You don’t lie, but you don’t exactly tell the truth either.”  
  
Rokurou, Eizen, and Zui Fuu had all gone their separate ways and with Maotelus still at the Temple, the remaining three had decided to take their leave as well.  
  
Velvet hummed as she let her gaze look past the horizon. “Lying by omission isn’t all that different than just straight up telling a falsehood.”  
  
Eleanor pondered the admission for a moment before she answered, “there is something to be said about tactfully telling the truth.”  
  
Velvet turned and smiled at Eleanor. “Never thought I’d hear that from you.”  
  
Eleanor shrugged nonchalantly. “It comes with experience.”  
  
She turned back to the horizon. “Either way, you’re right. While I don’t know the whole extent as to how I’ve changed, I do know that I am no longer mortal. So, I figure I’d use this chance to see if the Malevolence will fade or no.”  
  
Magilou cocked an eyebrow. “You do realize there’s no guarantee it will fade, right?”  
  
Velvet nodded. “I know. But I may as well, given how long I may live.”  
  
Eleanor’s brow furrowed. “That’s a long solitude to devote yourself to.”  
  
A small smirk graced her face as Velvet answered, “who said I was going to be alone?"  
  
Both Magilou and Eleanor paused as Velvet turned to them. “I am fully aware that I’m about to open myself up more than I’d like but,” Velvet struggled to either find the words or the courage to continue, “I’d… I’d like you two to join me. It would be a long vigil and we would no doubt be forgotten before too long. However, I’d be at ease, knowing you two were with me.”  
  
Magilou smiled and gushed, “Velcakes! Like you would even need to ask!” She hurled herself at Velvet, wrapped her arms around her shoulders, and kissed her repeatedly. “And, dammit, you blush in the most adorable way! How could I resist that?!”  
  
Velvet had to fight to keep the chuckles down as she turned to Eleanor, who seemed to be deeper in thought. Her smile faded when she could tell Eleanor was considering all that could have gone wrong with their decision. Aware of whom they all were, it was a given.  
  
“You don’t have to choose now,” Velvet amended, as she hoped she had not acted too hastily.  
  
“No,” Eleanor answered as she shook her head, “That won’t be necessary.”  
  
She walked up to Velvet and Magilou and embraced them both with a smile of her own. “Someone has to keep you two out of trouble.  May as well be me.”  
  
Magilou squealed happily. “I wouldn’t have it any other way, Sweet Peach!”  
  
Velvet snickered. “I suppose I can live with that.” Her smile began to falter. “However, there is something I need to do first.”  
  
Both of them looked to her. “What’s that?” Magilou asked.  
  
She looked to the east, where it all began. “Come.  I’ll show you.”  
  
*  
  
Aball looked as desolate as it did four years ago.  
  
Time had only begun to take its toll upon the houses as the wood began to rot, the paths once tread on by villagers reclaimed, and anything edible or of value long since taken.  
  
Velvet took a long moment to let the memories wash over her as the sun began to set.  
  
“The Village of Longing,” Magilou muttered with a frown, “appropriate, given what’s happened.” Thoughts of Melchior’s meddling soured her mood.  
  
Velvet closed her eyes and let herself drown in the memories. There were many good ones. However, what joy she felt was fleeting and only seemed to be a stark reminder of everything she had lost.  
  
There was nothing for her here.  
  
She cupped her hands in front of her and, slowly, a flame began to manifest.  
  
Soon enough, the Unquenchable Flame emerged and in front of Velvet, Ceres appeared, just as morose as Velvet herself.  
  
“It is here where it ends, isn’t it?” Ceres asked as she hovered to the ground.  
  
Velvet nodded as she walked up to Ceres’ side. However, she hesitated a moment before she asked, “I can bring you back, Ceres. I…”  
  
“No,” Ceres interrupted before she turned to Velvet and smiled, “I appreciate the offer, however, my story is finished. You said it yourself; we can’t go back to how things were. Besides, I have earned my rest.”  
  
Velvet was downtrodden a moment before Ceres wrapped her arms around Velvet’s shoulders and embraced her. She was not the ghost Velvet thought her, but as solid as when she was alive. “Thank you, Velvet.  For everything.”  
  
She hugged Ceres back, almost desperately, aware she would never have this chance again.  
  
It lasted as long as it needed to, after so long without the affection they both desired of the other so desperately.  
  
Reluctantly, Ceres let go and stepped back.  
  
With each step, there was a fire left in her wake. The deeper she traversed into the village, the more the village began to catch a flame.  
  
Velvet, Magilou, and Eleanor only looked on as Ceres’ form, along with the entire village, was engulfed by the blaze.  
  
By morning, there was nothing left.

And in time, Aball, and everyone that came from there, was completely forgotten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sure took long enough.
> 
> Epilogue next.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue.  
> Many, many years later.

Asheline Phoenix, maintained her composure in front of her peers at the Beardsden Conservatory. Her scholar’s robes seemed twenty pounds heavier in the heat, despite the fact that it was evening and late spring. 

Her mastery thesis presentation had gone on well enough, however, the crowd’s lack of reaction did not say she had succeeded. 

“Finally, this is why the phenomenon that we call ‘Hysteria’ is not a new one. Given the records that we’ve been able to unearth with the help of the Malakhim, which at one point were not visible to the general populace, have revealed that it is a curse of a much older order. To the peoples of previous ages, it was known as Malevolence; a curse placed upon our peoples and the Malakhim by another source that even the latter has forgotten.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw another woman take a seat near the entrance before she quickly returned to her speech. She had no idea whom that business woman with the absurdly long, jet black hair was. Though, she would have to show her appreciation for assisting in her research project. 

“Its effects were deadly and resulted in greater violence depending upon whoever it affected. It would render any sane human being feral and any Malakhim into a dragon, which explains the fossilized remains that have been discovered not too long ago. Malakhim scholars have verified this to be true.”

There was dead silence, just as she hoped. 

“However, it has also been verified that the effects of Malevolence have been wearing thin. The Hysteria we experience do not result in any transformation, just a temporary frenzy and momentary loss of cognitive control. While this certainly doesn’t erase the fact that it has resulted in tragic consequences, it does, however, indicate that it is fading.”

She could hear their sighs of relief. Though, perhaps it was just her imagination, but she’d like to think she could hold an audience.

“In conclusion; the aftereffects of Malevolence are still real and should be taken with the same caution we have, in our age, with the Hysteria. It’s story is long and tragic, and sadly, lost to time. The appearance of the Scarlet Moon from last year has encompassed many people with fear and superstition. It is only with truth and history can we hope to confront, and eventually defeat, these curses of the past. Thank you.”

She gathered her papers and walked off the stage with all the poise she had practiced the night before. And the night before that. And the night before that. She had no intention of being caught unaware for anything!

*

With an exhale of her own, she took a seat in the foyer and watched the last rays of sunlight flow into night. 

She wiped the sweat off of her brow and smiled to herself. It had gone well. It must have. 

“I have to say, I’m impressed,” the familiar voice of her benefactor said as she drew close, the businesswoman that wouldn’t give her name.

“I certainly hope so,” Asheline answered, “I have been working on this presentation for months. I would be most disappointed if was all for nothing after the many sleepless nights I had to endure to make sure my points were sound.”

The businesswoman smiled and took a seat beside her. Asheline briefly noted her left hand was still gloved, unlike her right, which was bare. She had considered asking what it was about but thought better of it. 

“I do as well, however, you’re going to be going up some resistance,” she said with her back to the wall and her gaze to the horizon, “the board of directors has been getting some notes from parties, that would prefer to not be disclosed, that your whole paper is nothing more than rabble rousing.”

Asheline frowned. “I can wager a guess. However, what would it profit them to discredit me?”

The businesswoman smirked with and without humor. “It’s not widely advertised, but there’s quite the industry for cures for Hysteria. If word even got out amongst the many professionals that their source of income had the possibility of vanishing into thin air, you can safely bet they’d want to keep it out of sight and out of mind.”

Asheline frowned deeper. “They’re going to be disappointed. Even without accreditation, I am going to end this once and for all. On my own, if needs be.”

The business woman smiled again. “Glad to hear that.” She stood up and brushed off her pantsuit. “Though, I doubt you’ll have to worry too much about it.”

Asheline’s frown faded slightly as her suspicion began to rear itself in the back of her mind.

“Pray tell, why?”

The businesswoman turned away and to the door. With her gloved hand on the handle, she paused before she turned back to Ashe and said, “Remember the Lords of Calamity?”

Ashe swallowed quietly before she nodded. Part of her thesis spoke about the simply nightmarish Lords of Calamity that always came before a surge in Malevolence. And always, the Lord of Calamity’s arrival was always preceded by its two hands; Helanorn the Lost and Magaloon the Mad. 

“Yes. I didn’t bring much attention to them in my presentation because their relevance, while there, wasn’t the salient point.”

“That’s fair,” she answered before she looked Asheline straight in the eye, “yet, would you agree that recent events sound a bit too familiar, don’t you think?”

There had been ‘incidents’ in the past week that this woman had informed her of. 

Four widely powerful men were found dead in their places of business. Each one, skewered with golden lances. Each one, laden with proof of their sizable political corruption and infidelity. Hallmarks of Helanorn the Lost, the Shepard that had fallen to Calamity. 

Several notable scientists and scholars, each more brilliant than the last, with accompanying hubris, were all committed to sanitariums. Their minds were somehow broken with forbidden Artes and Zaianse that they were warned not to pursue. Yet, the only lucid strain of thought they all had was concerning their ‘benefactor’; Magaloon the Mad, the Witch who gave herself to Calamity. 

There had been rumblings about it throughout both the Conservatory and in the general populace the world over. Despite the Magistrate’s attempt to assuage fears and suppress the story, it got out anyway. 

“What are you saying?” Asheline stood up as she fought the anxiety in her stomach. 

The business woman considered her words a moment before answering, “be wary. Calamity comes.”

Asheline’s frown returned in force. “I don’t know where you get this, but I refuse to be intimidated. Not by you, not by the Board, or anyone!”

The business woman looked at her a long moment before she nodded in approval. “Good. That’s how you’re going to stop this madness.”

Asheline could only nod back in appreciation as the businesswoman opened the door and walked out to the street where her transportation awaited her. With no fanfare, she entered the limousine as its Pyromite engine rumbled a moment before it drove off.

When Asheline knew she was alone at last she heaved a breath, shook the fear away, and looked to her thesis paper again. She had work to do. 

*

“Really, Velvet,” Eleanor said as she drove into traffic and onto the freeway, “did you really have to scare the poor girl?”

Velvet shrugged as she settled herself by the doorway before Magilou immediately nestled herself next to her, “she wasn’t scared. She still has Ceres and Celica’s courage.”

Eleanor gave her a brief, but annoyed, glance, “fair enough, but you still spooked her. She’s got enough problems as it is. She doesn’t need to think she’s been stalked anymore than she already is by the Board.”

“Ah, Sweet Peach,” Magilou snickered lightly, “that’s why I love you. You’d think she was your own, the way you indirectly coddle her.”

Eleanor pouted as she drove off the freeway and to one of the larger skyscrapers in the norther part of the city, “I’m sorry, but I don’t see me helping her the way I do is coddling. Even if…”

“Sweet Peach,” Magilou interrupted, “it happened a long time ago. Besides, it’s not your fault Sorey was an dunce.”

Eleanor’s resistance weakened. “But still…”

“I understand, Eleanor,” Velvet answered calmly, “it won’t happen this time.”

The reassurance gave Eleanor a smile as she parked the vehicle in one of the less populace levels. 

All three exited the car and made their way to the stairs. The fundraiser on the floor above them had gotten their attention and it was the perfect place for them to go. It was populated not just with members of the Board, but their many wealthy, and influential, donors. 

Magilou wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Ick! I can smell it from here!” 

Velvet hummed in agreement. 

“You would think that with how much the Malevolence has faded, it wouldn’t permeate this heavily, even with this much concentration of sources,” Eleanor noted as she too tried to fight against the nausea in her stomach. 

When they reached the entrance, the butler blinked and looked to his list of those invited. “May I have your names, please? I do not recall seeing you specifically for this event and all invitations were personalized.”

Magilou only smirked in mischief, briefly twisted her hand past the physical limitations, out of sight, and said, “you do such good work, Geeves. Why don’t you and the rest of the wait staff take the night off? You’ve earned it.”

There would have been a time when Eleanor would have objected to Magilou’s antics, however, given both time and personal observation with the Artes herself had changed her opinions.

“Why, yes, of course. I’ll inform the staff immediately,” the servant said before he took off. 

“Awfully kind of you to send them away,” Velvet observed as they made their way to the grand ballroom. 

Magilou shrugged. “Those poor people are overworked and underpaid. You think they deserve to be caught up in the middle of this? No, I say!”

Eleanor smiled and pecked Magilou on the cheek. “I know you didn’t have to do that, but I appreciate it nonetheless.”

Magilou huffed and put her hands on her hips in faux frustration. “I just couldn’t stand the idea of my poor Sweet Peach burdened with guilt!”

It was only moments later when, after the departure of the wait staff, confusion began to set in as they watched the most powerful and rich people in the world mingling and wondering why they service staff was gone. 

All three of them could feel the sheer Malevolence in the form of their greed, their hubris, their hatred of those they considered lesser, and more. There was no kindness in them. There was no love in them. And were any of them in Velvet’s era, they would have transformed into monsters immediately. 

From behind a curtain where they could see everyone else, Velvet turned to Eleanor and Magilou and nodded. “It’s time.”

Magilou began to cackle as her legs dissolved and reformed into a dozen large and powerful tentacles, each one colored the same pattern as her witch’s uniform. Two more sets of arms burst from her sides and four more eyes opened with sickly cracks on her face. She reared up to her full height and basked in the Madness. 

With the sound of snapping bone, two large protrusions burst out of Eleanor’s back. At the same time, her toes tore through her shoes, melded into three toes with claws sharp enough to tear through metal. Sickly gray feathers, with a sheen of steel, grew from the protrusions and shaped into wings large enough to cover all three of them. She whipped her hand to the side and her lance emerged, ready to pierce the merciless without mercy. 

Velvet snarled as horns emerged from her skull, through her wildly mangled hair. She hunched over as the handles of several weapons, once belonged to heroes foolish enough to believe they could defeat her, extended outward. Her brown skin was soon covered in Malevolence and reshaped into her wolf-like form as it increased her size to overshadow both Eleanor and Magilou. 

“Velvet,” Eleanor asked, her voice now distorted by her transformation, “you know that once the Malevolence finally fades after Asheline finds the answer you sent her, we will fade with it.”

“That’s the idea,” Magilou snickered as her extra limbs eagerly sought things to suffocate. 

“I know,” Velvet rumbled lowly, “it’s better this way. And, honestly, it will be nice to rest.”

Eleanor gave a wane smile. “Can’t argue with that.”

Their time was past. Their objective was nearly complete. There was only one last flood of Malevolence the world would experience before it would eventually fade forever. And better this slaughter of the world’s aristocracy than allowing them to cause the suffering and despair of so many more.

“Now,” Velvet rumbled as she felt her bloodlust begin to swell with her claws hungry for violence, “we bring Calamity.”

 

*

Post-script:

“Squish! Squish!” Magilou cooed as two of her tentacles pinched Velvet’s cheeks to cause the tip of her tongue to stick out, “Such a cute puppy!”

“Why do I even bother?” Eleanor asked herself, fully aware of Magilou’s antics. 

“I’m going to turn you into groundchuck and eat you,” Velvet growled through her absurd face.

“I hope you do!” 

This was their story and their legacy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boy. This was a ride to finish. But it's finally done. 
> 
> Also, I commissioned a friend to draw what Velvet, Eleanor, and Magilou looked like in their monster forms. Why? Because monstrous women are awesome. 
> 
> http://starisartblog.tumblr.com/post/173405890940/the-origins-of-the-first-lord-of-calamity-are  
> http://starisartblog.tumblr.com/post/171919189295/legends-tell-of-a-witch-whos-thirst-of-knowledge  
> http://starisartblog.tumblr.com/post/172390174970/no-shepherd-resisted-the-lord-of-calamity-as
> 
> Remember folks; Velvet Crowe deserved better.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are always appreciated. Writing is hard work and hearing why people enjoy your work is very validating and it is practically the lifeblood of our creativity. So, please, if you can, take a moment to leave a comment about what and why you liked it. It's ok, I don't bite. Honest. >.>
> 
> \--
> 
> This story also runs concurrently with "Stranger Than Fiction, Normal Than Fact' and 'Unrequited Belonging'.


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